A pro-war Russian ultra-nationalist was arrested for criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin. The UK MoD said he made the comments as the "taboo" around criticizing Putin is weakened. Ivor Girkin, a Russian ultra-nationalist, was arrested on extremism charges on Friday after he called Putin a "cowardly mediocrity." Girkin, like many other Russian war bloggers, has been critical of Russia's military performance in Ukraine. The UK MoD noted that Girkin had "long been a critic" of Russia's military performance but that, in recent days, his comments had turned to criticizing Putin himself.

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Persons: Vladimir Putin, Putin, Wagner, Ivor Girkin, Girkin's, Russian Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin's, Igor Girkin, ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Prigozhin, Insider's Erin Snodgrass, Girkin Organizations: MoD, Service, Wagner Group, Getty, MOD, Guardian Locations: Russian, Wall, Silicon, Russia, Ukraine, Moscow, Ukrainian Donetsk