Igor Strelkov

Igor Strelkov   (Soldier)
Born	1970/12/17
Nationality	Russian
Interests	• 2014 Ukraine coup/Civil war • Anti-Terrorist-Operation
Commander of the armed forces of the Donbass Peoples Republic

Igor Vsevolodovich Girkin, better known by the alias Igor Strelkov, was a commander of the armed forces, Minister of Defense and head of the Security Council of the Donetsk Peoples Republic in eastern Ukraine. Girkin is a self-described Russian nationalist who is sanctioned by the European Union, United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, Canada, Switzerland, and Ukraine for his leading role in the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine.

MH 17

Full article: MH 17

On 17 November 2022, following a trial in absentia in the Netherlands, Girkin, along with another Russian and a Ukrainian, was found guilty of murdering all 298 people on board flight MH17 by participating in shooting it down. The Dutch court also ruled that Russia was in control of the separatist forces fighting in eastern Ukraine at the time.

He allegedly made a post on VK on the day of the shoot down in which he acknowledged shooting down an aircraft at approximately the same time that the civilian airliner was reported to have crashed. The post specifically referenced how warnings were issued for planes not to fly in their airspace and the downing of a Ukrainian military Antonov An-26 transport plane which the Ukraine Crisis Media Center suggested was a case of misidentification with the MH17. This post was deleted later in the day and the account behind it claimed that Girkin has no official account on this social service.

Girkin was the author of an alternative version of the incident, wherein "no living people were aboard the plane as it flew on autopilot from Amsterdam, where it had been loaded with "rotting corpses".

Military tribunals

Girkin established military tribunals that sentenced people to death for minor infractions like stealing/looting.

Feud with Prigozhin

Girkin has made various critical comments about Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner Group. In an interview with "National Service News" (NSN) in January 2023, he criticized the leadership of the PMC Wagner for "wasting excellent assault infantry in frontal attacks in the most mediocre way", and made several attacks on Prigozhin, noting that he "should not be allowed into public space because of his background as a criminal". Responding to these attacks, Prigozhin invited Girkin to join the ranks of the Wagner PMC at that time fighting in Ukraine. After Girkin declined, Prigozhin accused him of having made a secret deal in 2014 with Ukrainian oligarch Rinat Akhmetov to surrender Sloviansk to Ukraine in exchange for money and safe passage to Donetsk. In turn, Girkin accused the leadership of PMC Wagner of having carried out the murder of LPR commander Aleksey Mozgovoy in May 2015 on behalf of the Russian government.

Criticism of Putin

After returning from the Donbass to Russia in late 2014, he started criticizing members of Putin's inner circle, namely Vladislav Surkov and Sergei Shoigu, for having betrayed the people of the Donbass, but for a time he abstained from criticizing Putin in person.

• On 21 February 2023, Girkin criticized Putin’s speech to the Russian public, saying "Not a word about failures and defeats. Blah blah blah, there's no point in listening anymore...another chance to prevent turmoil has been missed."
• On 25 June 2023, he said that if Putin "is not ready to take the leadership over the creation of war-ready conditions" in Russia, "then he really needs to transfer the powers, but legally, to someone who is capable of such hard work."
• On 18 July 2023, Girkin urged Putin to transfer power "to someone truly capable and responsible", saying that "For 23 years, the country was led by a lowlife who managed to ‘blow dust in the eyes’ of a significant part of the population. Now he is the last island of legitimacy and stability of the state. But the country will not survive another six years of this cowardly mediocrity in power." Girkin said that "A lot of empty talk, the minimum of action and the utter lack of responsibility for failures — that is Putin's style of late."

Arrest

On 21 July 2023, Girkin was arrested by Russian authorities on charges of extremism, reportedly stemming from a complaint filed by a former employee of PMC Wagner.

This page imported content from Wikipedia on 13 September 2023.
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A Document by Igor Strelkov

Title	Document type	Publication date	Subject(s)	Description
Document:Address by Igor Strelkov 11 September 2014	address	11 September 2014	Globalisation The Great Game 2014 Ukraine coup/Civil war	Igor Strelkov breaks his silence: A brutally honest, MUSt-READ address by the former commander of the NAF, about Russia, the civil war and the influence of traitorous elements of the Russian establishment in betraying the Novorussian rebellion

 

Related Documents

Title	Type	Publication date	Author(s)	Description
Document:Igor Strelkov interview	interview	26 April 2014	Komsomolskaya Pravda	Commander Igor Strelkov of the Eastern Ukrainian Peoples' Militia in Slavyansk gives his first open interview to Komsomolskaya Pravda
Document:Interview with Igor Strelkov - 8 July 2014	interview transcript	8 July 2014	First Republic TV channel	Transcript of video interview with DPR Militia commander Igor Strelkov following the militia breakout and evacuation from Slavansk, Eastern Ukraine

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