The Russian national security community is feeling the ripple effects of the Wagner Group mutiny.
On Friday, Russian security services arrested the Russian former intelligence officer and leading Russian former intelligence officer, leading nationalist military blogger, and convicted war criminal Igor Girkin.
Inciting Extremism
Girkin has been charged with inciting extremism on the internet and challenging the Kremlin. He requested house arrest, but it was denied, and he will be detained until his trial.
A former colonel in the FSB security service and a veteran of the Russian Army, Girkin is highly influential in the Russian military blogger community and, by extension, in the country’s national security community.
“The move is likely to infuriate fellow members of the mil-blogger community – and elements within the serving military – who largely see Girkin as an astute military analyst and patriot,” the British Military Intelligence assessed in its latest estimate of the war.
The Kremlin most likely arrested Girkin for his direct criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his conduct of the war. Thus far, the Russian nationalist had limited his criticism to the Russian Ministry of Defense.
“While Girkin is no ally of the Wagner Group, he was likely only prepared to push the limits of public criticism in the context of Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s June 2023 abortive mutiny. The taboo against unmasked criticism of the Putin regime has significantly weakened,” the British Military Intelligence added.
Girkin is the latest ultranationalist with ties to the Russian national security community to be arrested after the Wagner Group mutiny. It is becoming increasingly clear that Putin is going through a purge of the military and intelligence services as a result of the unprecedented challenge to his power about a month ago.
“Wagner’s rebellion likely shifted the balance of power in the Kremlin, potentially depriving some patrons—including Girkin’s patron—of Putin’s favor and, therefore, of some of their power,” the Institute for the Study of War assessed in its latest operational update on the war.
The Russian military blogger community is playing an influential role in the Russian campaign. Using the popular Telegram social media platform, military bloggers have brought an unfiltered version of the war to many Russians, in many instances revealing the truth about the situation on the ground.
Putin and his Kremlin advisers have recognized the influential role played by the military blogger community and have tried to appease them. Putin has even hosted several of the most influential military bloggers in the Kremlin to update them on the war.
Igor Girkin and Flight MH17
Igor Girkin, nicknamed Strelkov, is notorious for his role in the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine in July 2014. The civilian airliner was carrying almost 300 crew and passengers from the Netherlands to Malaysia when Russian separatists under the command of Girkin shot it down with a 9K37 Buk anti-aircraft weapon.
A Dutch court found Girkin guilty of murder and sentenced him in absentia. Moreover, Dutch prosecutors successfully argued that Russia was in control of the separatist forces fighting with the Ukrainian military in eastern Ukraine, thus proving the Kremlin’s culpability in the killing of nearly 300 innocent people.
A 19FortyFive Defense and National Security Columnist, Stavros Atlamazoglou is a seasoned defense journalist specializing in special operations, a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ), and a Johns Hopkins University graduate. His work has been featured in Business Insider, Sandboxx, and SOFREP.
