He was arrested today in Moscow on charges of inciting extremist actions the well-known Russian nationalist Igor Girkin, who accused President Vladimir Putin and the military leadership of not waging the war in Ukraine “toughly or effectively enough”.

Girkin’s arrest appears to be a sign that authorities have grown tired of his criticism of the “special military operation,” as they call the war, and possibly other nationalist voices against the Kremlin. It was preceded, last month, by the failed mutiny of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the mercenary organization Wagner, who remains at large but has drastically scaled back his verbal attacks.

Prosecutors from the Federal Security Service (FSB) asked Moscow’s Meshansky court to order Girkin’s pretrial detention. The charge against him carries a sentence of five years in prison, TASS and RIA Novosti agencies reported.

Girkin, also known as Igor Strelkov, helped Russia annex Crimea in 2014 and then organized pro-Russian militias that wrested parts of eastern Ukraine from Kiev’s control. A Dutch court sentenced him in absentia to life in prison in 2022 for his role in the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH15 over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 on board.

In footage of the hearing posted on Telegram’s Shot channel, Girkin stands almost motionless in a glass cage, his arms folded as he stares straight ahead. Because of his background and ties to the authorities, the former FSB officer was considered “untouchable”, but in recent months criticism of him has intensified. In May he announced that he and others had founded the “Club of Angry Patriots” and would enter the political arena to save Russia from the risk of turmoil over military failures in Ukraine. When asked if he was naive to think he could start a political movement without the Kremlin’s consent, he replied: “I hope you don’t call me naive.”

On July 18, in one of his most direct statements, in a Telegram post read by at least 760,000 people, Girkin hurled insults at President Putin and urged him to hand over power “to someone really competent and responsible.”

Girkin’s arrest was announced earlier by his wife, Miroslava Reginskaya. As she mentioned, family friends told her that she is being accused of extremism. “I don’t know where he is, he hasn’t contacted me,” he added.

There is currently no official announcement from the authorities. Girkin’s lawyer told the TASS news agency that it was unclear why his client was being held.

The RBC media group, citing two unnamed law enforcement sources, reported that Girkin’s home in Moscow had been searched and that he was being held because of a complaint against him by a former employee of the Wagner mercenary organization.

Tatiana Stanovaya, founder of the political analysis company R.Politik, said that the leadership of law enforcement agencies and ministries exercising power had long wanted to arrest Girkin. “Strelkov (s.s. the other name of Girkin) has crossed all the limits you can imagine for a long time. This is a direct consequence of Prigozhin’s mutiny: the army command now has more political influence to suppress its enemies in the public sphere,” he argued.