MOSCOW

Former Russian military commander Igor Girkin, who served as a commander in Russian-controlled areas of Donbas in eastern Ukraine in 2014, has been arrested in Moscow on charges of extremism.

Girkin, who uses the pseudonym Strelkov on social media platforms, was detained on Friday, according to his lawyer Aleksandr Molokhov and wife Miroslava Reginskaya.

Girkin appeared at the Meshchansky Court in Moscow Friday evening, which sent him to a pre-trial detention center for two months.

He is a former officer of the Russian Federal Security Service, and after resigning started a Telegram channel, which quickly became popular and has almost 900,000 followers.

Girkin is known for his support of the war in Ukraine and harsh criticism of the strategy pursued by the Russian military chiefs.