girkin arrested today, his wife said, after remarks blasting the lack of progress of russia s military campaign in ukraine. translator: the situation with the special military operation and in the country in general is deplorable, to put it mildly, he said. this is a result of actions of the incumbent power. girkin is a formal colonel in the fsb and was the defense minister of the so-called people s republic in eastern ukraine when the malaysian jetliner mh-17 was shot down there in 2014. girkin was found guilty of mass murder in absentia by a dutch court for involvement in the incident, which he has never acknowledged. while girkin is considered a war criminal in ukraine, he deems himself a russian ultra nationalist who feels the war should be prosecuted even more brutally. putin s grip on power was only recently challenged by the