An anti-Putin critic predicted the "dictator's downfall" as he blasted Russia's war on Ukraine in a Moscow court.
Dmitry Ivanov, a 23-year-old student, made his stinging attack on the "criminal" President as he was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison for criticising the invasion online.
The Russian national was convicted for spreading "fake" information about Russia's invasion, including that troops were shelling civilians in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
As he was being led away from the court to serve his sentence, he declared: "Putin was threatening the whole world not just Russia".
Student Dmitry Ivanov has been jailed for criticising Putin's invasion on Russia
|STRINGER/ Reuters
“Putin wants to show that his power has no limits, But that's not true. I'm not afraid,” he said.
“You must understand that Russia is not Putin, we didn't vote for him and he did not ask us about starting this war with our closest neighbours.
“Tens of millions of people here in Russia are against this criminal war. Lots of of us have friends and relatives in Ukraine and we feel their pain.
“This war is a great tragedy for all the Ukrainian people, but also for Russians who want to live in peace with their neighbours, and who are suffering just now under the dictatorship.
“Today is a dark moment in our history. But the darkest moment is always [before the] sunrise."
Putin has faced a high level of backlash for the invasion of Ukraine among his own people.
While there is still high support for the war in Moscow, a number of Russians have been willing to criticise the military's actions.
Ivanov added: "We love our country and this is why it particularly hurts and we feel ashamed of what [it’s been doing in Ukraine].”
Dmitry Ivanov has been sentenced to eight years and a half years in prison
|STRINGER/ Reuters
He also blamed those who facilitate “these crimes by carrying out repressions on their own people, creating the atmosphere of fear and intolerance”.
It comes after Kremlin chiefs ordered Russian textbooks to be rewritten to "brainwash" children into hero-worshipping President Putin's invasion.
The schoolbooks are being changed to include a positive outlook on the full-scale invasion, painting many soldiers as heroes of the motherland.
More than 150,000 Russian troops are thought to have been killed in the war and 3,423 of Moscow’s tanks have been destroyed.