AFP, Moscow

A Russian military blogger who criticised Moscow’s conduct in the Ukraine conflict was sentenced to six-and-a-half years’ jail for spreading “fakes” about the army, Moscow’s court service said yesterday.

Andrei Kurshin, a former soldier, accused Russia of cutting water to civilians near the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rig and of bombing a maternity hospital in posts on his “Moscow Calling” Telegram channel.

Kurshin was found guilty of “knowingly spreading false information about Russia’s armed forces”, according to an article of Russia’s criminal code listed by Moscow’s court service.

“The court has decided punishment in the form of imprisonment for the term of six years and six months, serving the punishment in a general regime penal colony,” it said.

Kurshin fought alongside Russian separatists in east Ukraine when fighting broke out in 2014, but later wrote more moderate posts on social media critical of the army, the Mediazona news outlet reported.

Shortly after Moscow launched its military assault on Ukraine in February 2022, authorities banned criticism of Russia’s troops.