MOSCOW -- A prominent hard-line nationalist who accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of weakness and indecision in Ukraine was arrested Friday on charges of extremism, a signal the Kremlin has toughened its approach with hawkish critics after last month's abortive rebellion by the Wagner mercenary company.
Igor Strelkov, a retired security officer, has argued that a total mobilization is needed for Russia to achieve victory. He recently criticized Putin as a "nonentity" and a "cowardly mediocrity."
Moscow's Meshchansky District Court ordered the 52-year-old Strelkov, whose real name is Igor Girkin, to be held in custody for two months pending a probe on charges of making calls for extremist activities. He faces up to five years in prison if convicted.
Strelkov rejected the charges, but asked the judge to place him under house arrest, citing health issues.
Strelkov's arrest comes nearly a month after a mutiny launched by mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin agreed to end the June 23-24 rebellion under a deal that offered amnesty to him and his mercenaries and allowed them to move to Belarus.
Like Prigozhin, Strelkov harshly criticized 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 repeatedly had traded insults, and Strelkov's supporters said a criminal inquiry into his statements has been initiated by one of Wagner's mercenaries.
Strelkov has over 875,000 subscribers on his messaging app channel. The Club of Angry Patriots, a recently created hard-line group he belonged to, issued a statement protesting his detention as a "provocation" that "undermines the population's trust in law enforcement organs" and "carries extremely negative consequences for the country's stability."
Strelkov served in the Russian military during the Chechen separatist wars and later joined the country's top domestic security agency, the Federal Security Service, where he reached the rank of colonel.
After he retired from service, he took part in the Kremlin's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and then led fighters in eastern Ukraine during the first months of a Moscow-backed separatist rebellion there in 2014.
Last year, a Dutch court convicted him and two other men of murder in absentia for their role in downing Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 with a Russian surface-to-air missile, killing all 298 people aboard the Boeing 777 as it flew over separatist-controlled eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014.
The Dutch Public Prosecution Service said it was watching the developments "with interest, although we cannot verify what is going on."
"We would, of course, like nothing more than for this man ... to serve his prison sentence here. The victims of MH17 and their relatives deserve that," the statement said. "But the fact is that Russia does not extradite its citizens, and this event unfortunately does not bring that any closer."
Igor Girkin also know as Igor Strelkov, the former military chief for Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine sits in a glass cage in a courtroom at the Moscow's Meshchansky District Court in Moscow, Russia, Friday, July 21, 2023. A prominent Russian hard-line nationalist who accused President Vladimir Putin of weakness and indecision in Ukraine was detained Friday on charges of extremism, a signal the Kremlin has toughened its approach with hawkish critics after last month's abortive rebellion by the Wagner mercenary company. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool)
Igor Girkin also know as Igor Strelkov, the former military chief for Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, sits in a glass cage in a courtroom at the Moscow's Meshchansky District Court in Moscow, Russia, Friday, July 21, 2023. A prominent Russian hard-line nationalist who accused President Vladimir Putin of weakness and indecision in Ukraine was detained Friday on charges of extremism, a signal the Kremlin has toughened its approach with hawkish critics after last month's abortive rebellion by the Wagner mercenary company. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool)
Igor Girkin also know as Igor Strelkov, the former military chief for Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, sits in a glass cage in a courtroom at the Moscow's Meshchansky District Court in Moscow, Russia, Friday, July 21, 2023. A prominent Russian hard-line nationalist who accused President Vladimir Putin of weakness and indecision in Ukraine was detained Friday on charges of extremism, a signal the Kremlin has toughened its approach with hawkish critics after last month's abortive rebellion by the Wagner mercenary company. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool)
Igor Girkin also know as Igor Strelkov, the former military chief for Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, sits in a glass cage in a courtroom at the Moscow's Meshchansky District Court in Moscow, Russia, Friday, July 21, 2023. A prominent Russian hard-line nationalist who accused President Vladimir Putin of weakness and indecision in Ukraine was detained Friday on charges of extremism, a signal the Kremlin has toughened its approach with hawkish critics after last month's abortive rebellion by the Wagner mercenary company. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool)
Igor Girkin also know as Igor Strelkov, the former military chief for Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine sits in a glass cage in a courtroom at the Moscow's Meshchansky District Court in Moscow, Russia, Friday, July 21, 2023. A prominent Russian hard-line nationalist who accused President Vladimir Putin of weakness and indecision in Ukraine was detained Friday on charges of extremism, a signal the Kremlin has toughened its approach with hawkish critics after last month's abortive rebellion by the Wagner mercenary company. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool)
Igor Girkin also know as Igor Strelkov, the former military chief for Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, sits in a glass cage in a courtroom at the Moscow's Meshchansky District Court in Moscow, Russia, Friday, July 21, 2023. A prominent Russian hard-line nationalist who accused President Vladimir Putin of weakness and indecision in Ukraine was detained Friday on charges of extremism, a signal the Kremlin has toughened its approach with hawkish critics after last month's abortive rebellion by the Wagner mercenary company. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool)
Igor Girkin also know as Igor Strelkov, the former military chief for Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, sits in a glass cage in a courtroom at the Moscow's Meshchansky District Court in Moscow, Russia, Friday, July 21, 2023. A prominent Russian hard-line nationalist who accused President Vladimir Putin of weakness and indecision in Ukraine was detained Friday on charges of extremism, a signal the Kremlin has toughened its approach with hawkish critics after last month's abortive rebellion by the Wagner mercenary company. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool)
FILE - Igor Girkin, also know as Igor Strelkov, the former military chief for Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, holds a news conference in Moscow, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2014. Strelkov, a high-profile Russian hard-line official who harshly criticized President Vladimir Putin over fighting in Ukraine was detained Friday, July 21, 2023 on charges of extremism, a signal the Kremlin has toughened its approach to hawkish critics after last month's abortive mutiny by the Wagner mercenary company. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin, File)
Igor Girkin, centre, also know as Igor Strelkov, the former military chief for Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine speaks with his lawyer standing in a glass cage in a courtroom at the Moscow's Meshchansky District Court in Moscow, Russia, Friday, July 21, 2023. A prominent Russian hard-line nationalist who accused President Vladimir Putin of weakness and indecision in Ukraine was detained Friday on charges of extremism, a signal the Kremlin has toughened its approach with hawkish critics after last month's abortive rebellion by the Wagner mercenary company. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)