Russian court jails pro-war blogger critical of Kremlin

A Russian occupation court in Ukraine's Donetsk on Oct. 19 sentenced a Russian pro-war blogger critical of the Kremlin to one and a half years in jail for alleged "extremism."

Tetiana Montian, a Ukrainian-born blogger, has supported Russia's aggression against Ukraine but at the same time accused the Russian authorities of incompetence and corruption.

The court also banned her from managing Internet sites for two years.

She was convicted for "extremism" based on her statement in a 2022 video stream in which she called for "taking down" the Russian regime's propagandists "without the slightest regret."

The Russian verb used in the phrase can mean to kill someone but Montian argued that she had meant banning hostile accounts, not physical violence.

Montian was born in the Ukrainian city of Kerch in 1972 and became a lawyer and activist.

Starting from 2014, Montian supported Russia and its proxies during Moscow's invasion of the Donbas.

She moved to Russia in 2021 and acquired Russian citizenship.

On Feb. 17, 2022, a week before Russia's full-scale invasion, she addressed a meeting of the United Nations Security Council at Russia's invitation.

She described Ukraine as a colony of the West and accused Kyiv of killing civilians in the Donbas. These accusations reflected the Russian government's justification for military intervention.

Later she supported Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

However, Montian's support for Russia's military objectives did not translate into unconditional loyalty to the Kremlin.

She has criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Russian authorities, and Kremlin propagandists, accusing them of mistakes, incompetence, and corruption.

She has lambasted Putin largely for not conducting the war against Ukraine more effectively, rather than for launching it.

In 2023 Montian attacked Putin for his decision to annex Crimea in 2014, arguing that Russia could have controlled its military facilities in Sevastopol without formally annexing the peninsula.

"If Putin weren't such a stupid f**khead, none of this would have happened," she said.

The same year, Montian also called Kremlin propagandist Vladmir Solovyov a fascist and traitor.

In February 2026, she also said that "there is absolutely unrestrained terror" in Russian-occupied parts of the Donbas, and people are terrified of criticizing the authorities.

Montian is not the first pro-war activist critical of the Kremlin jailed in Russia.

Other pro-war activists jailed during the full-scale invasion include Igor Girkin, Andrei Kurshin, and Sergei Udaltsov.