A Kremlin confidant immediately turned on Putin. A day later, he was in a mental hospital.

A staunch pro-Kremlin blogger who suddenly denounced Russian President Vladimir Putin as a “war criminal and thief” has been committed to a mental institution.

Ilya Remeslo, a pro-Putin lawyer and publisher, shocked Kremlin fans and critics on Tuesday when he shared a long post on Telegram, titled “Five reasons why I stopped supporting Vladimir Putin.”

Among his reasons, he pointed to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which he called “a completely final war.” He also accused the Kremlin of “massive damage to the Russian economy and the welfare of citizens” and criticized the Russian government’s campaign to eliminate power. internet and digital freedom, including the expected ban of Telegram, the country’s most popular messaging app.

Remeslo, previously known as a staunch critic of the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny who even testified against him in court, accused Putin of being in office for too long, with apparent plans “to stay on the throne for at least 150 years.”

He said that even a “flawless person” will be corrupted by such a long reign.

Putin doesn’t respect his voters and doesn’t want to listen to them, Remeslo wrote, adding that the Russian leader has finished opposing them, and said that anyone who dares to speak out is either in exile or dead.

“Bottom line. Vladimir Putin is not the legitimate president. Vladimir Putin must resign and be tried as a war criminal and thief,” he wrote.

Remeslo’s comments were a rare public expression of opposition and personal criticism of Putin in the context of strict repression and control in Russia, which was exacerbated by the invasion of Ukraine.

The change was so sudden that some in the pro-Kremlin camp speculated that Remeslov’s account might have been hacked, that he had been arrested or that for some other reason he had just lost the plot.

Remeslo responded by posting on Telegram that he was not hacked, that he stayed in Russia and stood by his views.

On Wednesday, he continued his criticism of Putin, accusing Putin of “madness, bordering on lust for luxury” as he spoke of an anti-corruption investigation into the leader’s assets, of the kind launched by Navalny.

He also recorded a video saying that Putin was too afraid to surround himself with those who could tell him the honest truth.

Responding to the Russian news outlet Ostoroghno Novosti, Remeslo said his views have changed because the country has “changed a lot.”

Well-known TV host Vladimir Solovyov discussed Remeslo on his show on Wednesday, calling him a “lawyer who has lost his mind,” without naming him, saying “some people can’t stand for that.” In response to Solovyov’s criticism, Remeslo urged him to switch to the “light side.”

At the time, some Kremlin opponents expressed doubts about Remeslo’s motives, and whether he had already fallen out of favor with the Kremlin.

But the story changed dramatically after Remeslo stopped posting late Wednesday.

On Thursday, news website Fontanka reported that Remeslo was admitted to Skvortsov-Stepanov Psychiatric Hospital No. 3 in St.

When NBC News called the hospital on Friday, a man who answered the phone but did not want to reveal his name said that someone with the same name as Ilya Remeslo was a patient at the hospital. He was admitted Thursday, but the reasons for his hospitalization could only be disclosed to the patient’s family, NBC News said.

Remeslo did not respond to a request for comment.

The writer, who is 42 years old, was previously a major critic of Navalny, who died in an Arctic prison in early 2024. State news agency Tass called Remeslo “one of Navalny’s most famous investigators” as he testified against the politician in court in 2022 and investigated his anti-corruption fund, FBK.

In one of the posts on Wednesday, he signed off with the tag line made famous by the late opposition leader, concluding: “Here we speak the truth.”