Former Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) agent Igor Girkin, who was convicted of justice for the downing of Malysia Airlines flight MH17 in 2014, and who recently became critical of the Kremlin, was arrested in Russia this Friday.
The woman, Miroslava Reginskaya, confirmed the arrest, explaining that Girkin had been charged “in accordance with Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation,” which includes the crime of “extremist activity.”
Girkin’s lawyer, Alexander Molojov, confirmed his client’s arrest by officials of the Investigative Committee of Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Girkin had repeatedly declared his willingness to go to the war zone, while criticizing the Kremlin and the Ministry of Defense, as well as the Chief of the General Staff, Valeri Gerasimov, and its founder of the Wagner Group, Yevgeni Prigozhin.
Last November, a court in the Netherlands (which took jurisdiction over the downing of flight MH17, as 193 of the 298 fatalities were of Dutch nationality) convicted Girkin of the attack, as well as Russian citizen Serguei Dubinski and Ukrainian citizen Leonid Jarchenko . .
The Malaysia Airlines plane, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was hit by a missile while flying over eastern Ukraine, an area heavily ravaged by clashes between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian separatist militias (with whom Girkin worked).
In one of the latest developments in the case, last February, the Dutch prosecutor’s office announced that it had evidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered pro-Russian separatist forces to be equipped with the anti-aircraft system used to attack a missile at the plane. .
The Kremlin has already announced that it “does not accept the results” of the investigation conducted by international authorities and has disclaimed any responsibility by denouncing the politicization of the process.
Source: DN
