(Reuters) – A criminal investigation into prominent Russian nationalist Igor Girkin was extended until Dec. 18, his supporters said on Tuesday in their Telegram channel.
Girkin, who has strongly criticised the conduct of the Ukraine war, was detained in July on charges of inciting extremism. If convicted, the 52-year-old may face up to five years in jail
Girkin, who also goes by the name Igor Strelkov, is a former security services officer who helped to start the initial war in Ukraine in 2014, when a militia under his command seized the east Ukrainian city of Sloviansk.
He is best known in the West for having been convicted in absentia by a Dutch court over the shooting down of a Malaysian passenger plane with the loss of 298 lives over eastern Ukraine in 2014.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
