A Russian nationalist critic of Vladimir Putin has predicted his regime will collapse due to its incompetent handling of the Ukraine war.
Igor Girkin was sentenced to four years imprisonment in January for his fierce criticisms of Putin.
He was found guilty by a court of “making public calls for extremist activities”.
Also known by his nom de guerre, Strelkov, the former army veteran, played a key role in annexing Crimea in 2014, as well as coordinating Russian proxies in the Donbas insurgency.
Despite being banged up in a Russian jail, Girkin has continued to fiercely attack Putin and his regime.
In a post shared on social media, he warned the Russian leader that his time was running out.
“Ukraine will continue escalating its strikes, pushing Moscow towards precisely this overextension,” he wrote.
“Kyiv is likely calculating – perhaps not without reason – that given the growing fatigue of the Russian population from this senseless war, our authorities will either softly capitulate or finally strain themselves and soon collapse.
“Both outcomes are entirely acceptable to the forces behind Kyiv that are truly directing the process.”
Girkin argued that Ukraine was prepared to wage a war to the “bitter end” and was not afraid of Russia‘s vastly superior arsenal of high-tech weapons, such as the new Oreshnik ballistic missile.
He said Russia‘s army was incapable of significantly disrupting Ukraine‘s supply lines and that the Kremlin couldn’t care less about the suffering of the Russian population in Ukraine.
His remarks come as Ukraine is reported to be fast developing a missile that will be able to strike Moscow.
The Trembita missile currently can travel at 400km/h and has a range of 200 kilometres.
However, according to the Economist, Kyiv is developing a new missile model that can hit Moscow.
Developed by volunteer engineers, it uses an updated WWII-era engine to strike deep into enemy territory for just US$15,000 per missile – a fraction of conventional costs,
It is designed to overwhelm Russia’s air defences while revitalising Ukraine’s military-industrial complex.
However, scaling production is urgent, with experts warning it could take at least a year to produce enough missiles to make a decisive impact.