Russian prosecutors seek 5-year jail term for pro-war nationalist Putin critic

The prosecution has asked a court in Moscow to convict and sentence Igor Girkin (aka Strelkov), once a leader of Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine's east, to almost five years in prison on a charge of making public calls for extremist activities.

Girkin's lawyer, Aleksandr Molokhov, told reporters on January 18 that the prosecutor asked the Moscow City Court to sentence Girkin, who pleaded not guilty to the charge, to four years and 11 months in prison in the trial that started in mid-December, Radio Liberty reports.

The 53-year-old was arrested in July after he sharply criticized President Vladimir Putin in online statements for his handling of the Ukraine invasion, referring to the Russian leader as a "nonentity" and accusing him of "cowardly mediocrity."

He also has called out Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu for "mistakes" in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which is nearing the two-year mark, and has accused both of "incompetence," saying a total military mobilization is needed for Russia to achieve victory.

In one of his harshest rants, Girkin said in a July 18 post on his official Telegram channel that Putin should transfer power "to someone truly capable and responsible." The post has garnered almost 800,000 views.

A former officer of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), Girkin was a key commander of Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region in 2014 and helped Russia annex Ukraine's Crimea that year.

Shortly after his arrest, Girkin made a statement from pretrial detention, saying he plans to take part in the upcoming presidential election in March.

In November 2022, a court in the Netherlands sentenced Girkin and two other defendants to life in prison in absentia in the case of the 2014 shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over Ukraine. All 298 people onboard died in the crash.

In February, international investigators said there were "strong indications" that Putin was personally involved in the incident.

The Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was blown out of the sky on July 17, 2014, amid a conflict between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian armed forces. The victims came from more than a dozen countries, although more than two-thirds of them were Dutch citizens.

Russia has denied any involvement in the shooting down of the plane.