Kremlin Critic Faces Criminal Probe After Being Yanked Off Flight By Anna SMOLCHENKO 06/01/21 AT 11:18 AM A prominent Kremlin critic was facing possible jail time Tuesday after Russian police stopped his foreign-bound plane as it taxied down a runway and yanked him off the flight. It marked the latest move in what Kremlin opponents have described as a campaign of arrests and intimidation against President Vladimir Putin's foes ahead of parliamentary elections in September, and came days after Russia's ally Belarus diverted a plane and arrested a wanted dissident onboard. Political activist Andrei Pivovarov was pulled off a Warsaw-bound plane in Saint Petersburg late on Monday.