2023-07-22 10:12:29
Igor Girkin, known as “Igor Strelkov”, the former military leader of the Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, at the Meshchansky District Court in Moscow on July 21, 2023. ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO / AP
In turn, Strelkov is overtaken by the judicial machine in the service of the Kremlin. He was still, recently, one of the most popular and influential bloggers within the group of “turbo-nationalists”, as these ex-soldiers, ultrapatriots, are qualified, omnipresent for seventeen months on the social network Telegram to comment on the “special military operation” of the Kremlin in Ukraine.
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Over the dysfunctions of the Russian army, humiliations and defeats on the front, Igor Girkin, the real name of this former separatist commander of Donbass, who became the blogger in Moscow “Strelkov” (literally “shooter”), had however shown himself to be more and more critical of power. Using virulent formulas, he targeted the military and therefore, de facto, political hierarchy, accused of not leading the offensive effectively. While the least “liberal” opponent risks a prison sentence for an innocuous anti-war message, he nevertheless seemed untouchable. He enjoyed great freedom of speech on social networks, where he has nearly 875,000 followers.
At the end of the morning, Friday, July 21, the police came to arrest Igor Girkin at his home in Moscow. He was transferred before a judge. Prosecuted for “public calls to extremism”, he faces a sentence of up to five years in prison. Implacable with liberal opponents, the judicial machine proved to be similarly intractable with the nationalist blogger who, in the police van, sent a last message on Telegram to call on his supporters to support him in court (“Every Russian must come here. Glory to Russia! »).
His lawyers, who had less than half an hour to prepare, did not obtain a postponement of the hearing. Then Igor Girkin, 52, a father with two children (including a minor), an unemployed wife and a dependent disabled grandmother, asked for house arrest pending trial. The judge refused and immediately sent the defendant to pre-trial detention until September 18. Strelkov therefore spent his first night in prison.
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A warning for ultranationalists
The message is clear to any critical voice in Russia, including, now, among nationalists. Their opposition has grown steadily in recent months. With, beyond Strelkov and a few other bloggers, a key figure: Evgueni Prigojine, the paramilitary leader of the Wagner Group. The videos in the virulent tone of the latter against the military high command could appear as a manipulation of the Kremlin to capture the ultranationalist movement, raised by the failures on the Ukrainian front. While remaining, however, under the control of the authorities.
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