Putin critic Igor Girkin has been arrested in Russia for inciting extremism (Picture: EPA)

Igor Girkin, a former Russian security officer convicted of shooting down Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 and assisting in Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 has been arrested in Moscow.

A fierce critic of Vladimir Putin, Girkin has regularly accused the Kremlin of not pursuing the war in Ukraine harshly or effectively enough, and was remanded in custody on Friday on charges of inciting extremism.

His arrest earlier in the day by his ex-employer, the FSB state security service, suggests authorities have become weary of his criticism of what they call Russia’s ‘special military operation’, and perhaps of other loud nationalist voices who had appeared to have exceptional licence to deride the war effort.

It follows an abortive mutiny last month led by another outspoken critic, Yevgeny Prigozhin, boss of the Wagner mercenary force, who is still free but has been exiled to Belarus and has sharply curtailed his own verbal attacks on Putin’s regime.

Girkin, also known as Igor Strelkov, was convicted of shooting down flight MH17 and helping Russian forces annex Crimea (Picture: Reuters)

Like Mr Prigozhin, Strelkov harshly criticised Russia’s military leaders for incompetence, but he also denounced the Wagner chief and described his action as treason and a major threat to the Russian state.

The two had repeatedly traded insults, and Strelkov’s supporters said a criminal inquiry into his statements has been initiated by one of Wagner’s mercenaries.

Girkin has been remanded in custody by FSB prosecutors until September 18, and if convicted could see up to five years in prison, state media has reported.

Britain’s defence ministry, in a regular intelligence update on Saturday, said the arrest was ‘likely to infuriate fellow members of the military blogger community, who largely see Girkin as an astute military analyst and patriot’.

Girkin, a former FSB officer and battlefield commander also known as Igor Strelkov, helped Russia to annex Crimea in 2014 and, soon after, to organise pro-Russian militias who wrested part of eastern Ukraine out of Kyiv’s control – events that started Russia’s war on Ukraine.

He was also handed a life sentence in absentia by a Dutch court in 2022 for his alleged role in the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014, with the loss of 298 passengers and crew.

Girkin had been regarded by many as untouchable due to his history and ties to the authorities, but had become more outspoken in his criticisms of the Russian government in recent months.

He had become an increasingly outspoken critic of Putin, who who called a ‘nonentity’ and ‘cowardly mediocrity’ (Picture: AP)

In May, he announced that he and others had set up the ‘Club of Angry Patriots’- a hardline, far-right nationalist group set up to save Russia from what he said was the danger of systemic turmoil, due to military failures in Ukraine.

Asked at the time if he was naive to launch a political movement without the assent of the Kremlin, he said: ‘I hope you would not call me a naive person.’

Strelkov has long spoken with contempt about Mr Putin, accusing him of incompetence and kowtowing to Western interests, and he toughened his criticism after the start of Moscow’s action in Ukraine.

He predicted Russia would face imminent defeat because of Mr Putin’s reluctance to declare a massive mobilisation and put the country on full military footing.

‘A lot of empty talk, the minimum of action and the utter lack of responsibility for failures – that is Putin’s style of late,’ Strelkov said recently.

‘A nonentity that has managed to cheat a large part of the population has been at the country’s helm for 23 years.’

He warned that ‘the country will not survive another six years under the rule of that cowardly mediocrity’, a reference to Mr Putin’s expected bid to run for another six-year term in a presidential vote in March 2024.

His arrest mirrors that of Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was arrested in June following an aborted coup attempt (Picture: AP)

Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Centre, said Wagner’s rebellion has given the military brass an opportunity to go after its critics.

‘Strelkov had overstepped all conceivable boundaries a long time ago, sparking the desire among security forces – from the FSB to military chiefs – to apprehend him,’ she said on Twitter. ‘This is a direct outcome of Prigozhin’s mutiny: the army’s command now wields greater political leverage to quash its opponents in the public sphere.’

She predicted that while ‘it’s unlikely that there will be massive repressions against ‘angry patriots’, … the most vehement dissenters may face prosecution, serving as a cautionary tale for others’.

The Dutch Public Prosecution Service said it was watching the developments ‘with interest, although we cannot verify what is going on’.

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Igor Girkin helped annex Crimea and wass convicted of shooting down Malaysian Airlines flight MH17