The Moscow City Court on December 7 extended the pretrial detention of Igor Girkin (aka Strelkov), once a leader of Russia-backed separatists in Ukraine's east, who was arrested in July after he criticized President Vladimir Putin for “badly” handling the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Girkin, who has been charged with public calls for extremism, announced earlier that he plans to take part in the presidential election in March next year.
Girkin's lawyer, Aleksandr Molokhov, said on December 7 that his client's trial will start on December 14, adding that it will be held behind closed doors despite protests by his client and his defense team.
Russian authorities said earlier that Girkin's case was classified.
If convicted, the 52-year-old Girkin, who maintains his innocence, faces up to five years in prison.
Girkin was a key commander of Russia-backed separatists in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region in 2014 and helped Russia annex Ukraine's Crimea that year.
A former officer of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), Girkin has sharply criticized Putin in online statements for his handling of the Ukraine invasion, referring to the president as a “nonentity” and accusing him of “cowardly mediocrity.”
He has also called out Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu for "mistakes" in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and has accused both of "incompetence," saying a total military mobilization is needed for Russia to achieve victory.
In one of his harshest rants, Girkin said in a July 18 post on his official Telegram channel that Putin should transfer power "to someone truly capable and responsible." The post has garnered almost 800,000 views.
Shortly after his arrest, Girkin made a statement from pretrial detention, saying that he plans to take part in a presidential election next year.
In November 2022, a court in the Netherlands sentenced Girkin and two other defendants to life in prison in absentia in the case of the 2014 shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over Ukraine. All 298 people on board died in the crash.
In February, international investigators said there were "strong indications" that Putin was personally involved in the incident.
The Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was blown out of the sky on July 17, 2014, amid a conflict between Russia-backed separatists and Ukrainian armed forces. The victims came from more than a dozen countries, although more than two-thirds of them were Dutch citizens.
Russia has denied any involvement in the downing of the plane.