Girkin, who denied the charge, had publicly entertained ideas about running against Putin in a March presidential election The judge also banned Girkin, once a prolific blogger, from using the Internet for three years MOSCOW: Prominent Russian nationalist Igor Girkin, who accuses President Vladimir Putin and the army top brass of not pursuing the Ukraine war effectively enough, was convicted by a Moscow court on Thursday of inciting extremism and jailed for four years. Girkin, who denied the charge, had publicly entertained ideas about running against Putin in a March presidential election, saying he could do a better job than Russia’s veteran leader. Standing in a glass courtroom cage as he listened to the verdict, Girkin, 53, who is also known as Igor Strelkov, nodded and rolled his eyes as the presiding judge declared he had been found guilty and would spend four years in a penal colony. The judge also banned Girkin, once a prolific blogger, from using the Internet for three years. Girkin’s official channel on the Telegram messaging app, which is maintained by allies, said he did not recognize the verdict and had pronounced the words: “I serve the Fatherland!“ His case has been closely watched as an indication of how far the Kremlin will tolerate aggressive criticism of its war effortin Ukraine, something it calls a “special military operation.” Sergei Markov, a former Kremlin adviser, said Girkin’s punishment was a lesson for people styling themselves as patriots. “Of course, branding and insulting the leader of a country that is fighting against the aggression of a huge global coalition is not patriotism,” Markov wrote on Telegram. “A patriot can criticize the mistakes of the leadership. But a patriot cannot brazenly insult the leadership of the country at a difficult moment for the country. Strelkov’s sentence is a lesson to everyone: patriotism is not an indulgence.” Girkin’s legal team plans to appeal the verdict. ’CLUB OF ANGRY PATRIOTS’ Girkin was remanded in custody last July after setting up the “Club of Angry Patriots” to save Russia from what he said was the danger of systemic turmoil because of military failures in Ukraine and jostling in the elite to eventually succeed Putin. In a post on July 18 on his official Telegram channel, followed by more than 760,000 people, Girkin peppered Putin with personal insults and urged him to pass power “to someone truly capable and responsible.” A former officer for Russia’s FSB security service and battlefield commander, Girkin helped Russia to annex the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine in 2014. Soon afterwards, he helped organize pro-Russian militias who wrested part of eastern Ukraine out of Kyiv’s control — events that started Russia’s war on Ukraine. He was 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. He denied wrongdoing at the time.