CNN —A Russian military blogger who has written critically of Russia’s conduct in Ukraine was arrested in Moscow Thursday, according to state news agency RIA Novosti. The blogger, Andrey Kurshin, runs the Moscow Calling Telegram channel, which has some 87,000 subscribers. “A criminal case was opened against the administrator of the Moscow Calling telegram channel Andrey Kurshin for fake news about the Russian army,” RIA Novosti said Thursday. In April, Russian military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky was killed in an explosion at a cafe in the center of St. Petersbug, where he was appearing as a guest of a pro-war group. Russia’s pro-invasion military bloggers have filled some of the information vacuum left behind by the closure of independent media outlets in Russia.

---

Persons: Andrey Kurshin, RIA Novosti, “, Kurshin, ” ISW, Igor Girkin, Girkin, Vladimir Putin, Vladlen Tatarsky, Daria Trepova, Trepova, Russia’s, Wagner Organizations: CNN, RIA Novosti, RIA, The, Investigators Locations: Russian, Ukraine, Moscow, St, Petersbug, Russia