The sentencing of "Si Yuefei", which we just talked about a few days ago, will soon have a follow-up. It is reported that after being sentenced to four years in prison, Strelkov, a representative of Russia's "Imperial Russian faction," was dissatisfied with the verdict and has now submitted an appeal.
His lawyer, Molokhov, said: "Strelkov is dissatisfied with the court's verdict because the relevant witnesses, testimony have been completely distorted and do not correspond to objective facts, and the arguments of the defense have been completely ignored. ”
[The hero of the Crimean crisis - Strelkov]
Speaking of Strelkov, I believe everyone should be familiar with it, and we have talked about it many times. Born into a military family, he was influenced by the idea of "Imperial Russia" from an early age and was an ultra-nationalist. Although he is now arrested and imprisoned, it is undeniable that Strelkov has made great contributions to Russia, whether it was in the Crimean crisis in 2014 or later in the war in Donbass, his active participation is indispensable. Because of this, he enjoys a lot of prestige in Russia, and is even regarded as a "national hero" by some Russians.
In July last year, Strelkov was arrested by Russian authorities on suspicion of "inciting extremism". Much of his arrest was related to his two previous posts: the first talked about "Russia should consider exchanging Crimea for four places in eastern Ukraine", and the other exposed the scandal of "the Russian Ministry of Defense defaulting on the salaries of front-line soldiers".
[Strelkov is an ultra-nationalist]
After sending Strelkov to the detention center, the Kremlin deliberately dragged him out for all kinds of reasons, and it has been delayed for half a year from July last year to the present. Only a few days ago, a Moscow court convicted him and sentenced him to 4 years in prison. In the detention center, he has repeatedly stated that he is not guilty, so now that the trial has come down, it is normal for him to be dissatisfied with the verdict.
It's just that if he can get acquainted with each other, he should be honest. If he continues to go toe-to-toe with the Kremlin, then he is likely to repeat the mistakes of Prigozhin, the leader of Wagner.
In fact, the root cause of his arrest actually has a lot to do with the "Wagner incident". On June 24 last year, the "Wagner incident" broke out that shocked the world, and although the farce was eventually quelled under the mediation of Belarusian President Lukashenko, it was precisely because of this mutiny that the Kremlin realized the influence of social media - social media has made Wagner and Prigozhin a "positive image" in the eyes of many Russian people, while the Kremlin and the Ministry of Defense have become a "negative image".
[Wagner leader - Prigozhin]
During his lifetime, Prigozhin often used social media to criticize the Defense Ministry's poor command and suggest that the Kremlin was misappointed. At the beginning of June last year, when the Ukrainian army launched a counteroffensive, Shoigu stressed that the Russian army eliminated 1,500 enemies and destroyed 18 tanks in one day. In response, Prigozhin mocked on social media: "If you add up the numbers of the Ministry of Defense, then the Russian army would have hit aliens a long time ago."
Therefore, after the outbreak of the "Wagner incident", we can see in many videos that when Wagner entered the Rostov region, many local people welcomed their arrival, many people talked and laughed with Wagner soldiers, and even took pictures with tanks and armored vehicles; at the same time, they did not encounter any resistance or interception on Wagner's road north to Moscow.
[When Wagner entered the Rostov region, it was welcomed by many local people]
After the "Wagner incident", the Kremlin began to rectify the domestic public opinion environment to avoid negative impact on domestic stability and the political situation in Russia, and Strelkov naturally became one of the targets of "being cleaned up". So less than a month after the end of the "Wagner affair", Strelkov was arrested.
In fact, as early as December last year, Strelkov, who was in the detention center at the time, predicted his end in an interview with the media, saying that he might follow in Prigozhin's footsteps. "I was arrested a month after Prigozhin's rebellion, and above all, I feared that I would not receive normal criminal punishment, but would die in an 'accident' like Prigozhin," he said at the time.
[The Kremlin treats Strelkov very mercilessly]
Again, those who disturb Russia, Putin naturally will not show mercy, and Prigozhin is the best example. It's just that, compared with Prigozhin, the Kremlin treats Strelkov, who was once a great contributor to the Crimean crisis, in fact, very mercilessly, just letting him step on the sewing machine for 4 years, and it does not endanger his personal life.
As for the "noble hand" of the Kremlin, Strelkov had better weigh his weight and not have too many illusions about the appeal, otherwise he is likely to put himself in an even more dangerous situation.