Ukrainian secret services offer $100,000 for Igor Girkin, a veteran of the Donbas War sentenced to life in prison for downing a Malaysian Airlines plane in 2014
The war in Ukraine contains an infinite variety of characters of the most diverse nature. One of them is Igor Girkin. A veteran of the Donbas War, he emerged as a fierce critic of the Kremlin’s erratic strategy during the early months of the invasion. Footage of him near the Ukrainian border was then published last October, sparking speculation about his possible return to the frontline at the head of a volunteer militia. Last week, his name was in the news again after he was sentenced to life imprisonment by a Dutch court for his role in the downing of the Malaysian Airlines plane in 2014.
But who is Igor Girkin? Also known as Igor Strelkov, he is an army veteran – having participated in the wars in Chechnya, Transnistria, Bosnia and Donbas – and a former Federal Security Service (FSB, former KGB) officer. The European Union has sanctioned him for his involvement in the war in Ukraine. His name came to light in 2014. He played a key role in Russia’s annexation of Crimea and later in the Donbas conflict, in which he commanded pro-Donetsk paramilitary guerrillas.
Girkin himself has openly acknowledged his involvement in the conflict that has been smoldering in eastern Ukraine since 2014, in which thousands of people have been killed. “After all, I pulled the trigger to start the war (in Donbas). If our squad hadn’t crossed the border, everything would have ended up like in Kharkiv or Odessa. And I have a personal responsibility for what happens there.” The quote is from an interview Girkin gave to Zavtra newspaper in November 2014.
Widely decorated for his military career, Girkin is a staunch Russian nationalist. For example, he believes in ‘Novorossiya’ (literally: New Russia), the name by which Eastern Ukraine is known in Russian nationalist circles, who regard it as an indivisible part of the Russian Empire. In this sense, Girkin belongs to the same elite as Alexander Dugin, one of Putin’s closest ideologues.
However, his fame has faced ups and downs. In July 2014, Girkin and his troops were forced to leave Sloviansk, a crucial enclave for control of Donbas. They were decimated by Ukrainian forces, who managed to drive them out. The defeat was received as a humiliation in the Russian nationalist atmosphere. Some even reproached Girkin for not keeping his word to lose his life defending Sloviansk. He resigned as defense minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk Republic.
His name has since disappeared from the radar. An investigation by the journalistic website Bellingcat revealed that he had been using a fake identity, under the name Sergei Runov, to travel around the country all these years.
Last October, an image of him dressed as a soldier was published in Rostov Oblast, Russia, on the Sea of Azov, near the border with Ukraine. There was speculation about a possible return of the veteran to the war front led by a volunteer unit. However, one of the founders of Bellingcat, who is watching his steps, Christo Grozev, reported on German television a few days ago that Girkin is not in Ukraine. “He does not fight on the Ukrainian front, but works in the Russian army. Train and recruit volunteers for the war,” he said.
Anyway, after the publications, the Ukrainian intelligence services offered a $100,000 bounty on his head. Kiev considers him one of the bloodiest “terrorists”, both because of his role in Donbas and especially because of the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17.
Only ten days ago, a Dutch court found Girkin guilty of the attack. The court ruled that it had been proven that the device that downed the plane and killed the 298 passengers was a Russian-made ‘Buk’ missile fired from the Lugansk region of Ukraine in Donbas, then under the control of pro-Russian forces. troops. . That is, with Girkin leading the way.
Source: La Verdad
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