A Russian military blogger who criticized Moscow's conduct in the Ukraine war was sentenced to six and a half years in jail for spreading "fakes" about the army, the Moscow court system's press service said Wednesday.Andrei Kurshin, a former soldier, accused Russia of cutting off water access to civilians near the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih and of bombing a maternity hospital in posts on his Telegram channel called "Moscow Calling."Kurshin was found guilty of "knowingly spreading false information about Russia's armed forces," the Moscow court system's press service said.The blogger fought alongside Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine when fighting first broke out in 2014, but he later expressed views that were more critical of the military, the independent news website Mediazona reported.Shortly after Moscow launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, authorities banned any criticism of the country's armed forces.
Since then, the authorities have detained thousands of people for spreading "fakes" about the military.So, too, have the authorities increasingly sought to rein in pro-army military bloggers, some of whom have revealed sensitive and embarrassing information about Moscow's invasion.Russian nationalist and ex-rebel commander Igor Girkin was sentenced to four years in prison earlier this year for repeatedly criticizing the Kremlin and Russia's military command.