Former officer of the Russian Federal Security Services (FSB) Igor Vsevolodovich Girkin, known at the front under the nickname of strelkov (“the shooter”), has been arrested this Friday in Russia for “extremism“, a crime included in the article 282 of the Russian criminal code.
Girkin, 52, is a russian army veteran who played a key role in the annexation of crimea by the Russian Federation, and later in the war of the Donbas. He organized the militias of the self-styled People’s Republic of Donetsk until they become a fairly competent little army.
During his service in the Russian army, he stood out in several battles, and he is considered one of the people who built the civil and military framework that shaped the pro-Russian administrationin the image of the structures of the Kremlin.
[Putin autorizó el misil que derribó el vuelo MH17 en el que murieron 298 personas en 2014]
The military has been considered a war criminal. On June 19, 2019, the Netherlands accused Girkin of the downing of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17and issued an international arrest warrant, since most of the 298 victims of the accident came from the Netherlands.
Before having fought in the war in Donbas, Girkin had served in the war in transnistria, Chechnyaand the war of bosnian, where he was also accused of mass executions of civilians. In 2014 Girkin was seriously injuredaccording to the Russian news agency TASS.
A few days later, it was replaced of his position as minister of Defending of the Donestsk People’s Republic, as Putin would have other plans for him. Being such an experienced military man and having defended the nation from him, he should be an acclaimed figure as hero in russia from Putin, but nothing like that.
At the beginning of the Ukrainian war in 2022, Girkin, declared nationalist and imperialistsaid in several of his social networks, that he was against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, since he believed that Ukraine “has human resources (200-300 thousand people) and technical capacity (a large flow of various weapons from Europe and the US) to not only keep a sufficient number of its troops at the front, but also to create new reserves,” according to communicated himself on his account Telegram.
[Putin se lanza a una purga en el ejército mientras suena ya Kiriyenko como posible sucesor]
From that moment on, he began to publish videos where he criticizes the management of the Russian army and the continuous issues what does it have for retract at ukrainian troops.
Thus, it is shown in his social networks pessimistic and fatalistic before the warsince it speaks of the incompetence of its leaders, and the prevailing possibility of losing the battle, although it celebrates with the same fury the bombing of the Russian troops on the Ukrainian territories.
At some point he crossed a red line with the Kremlin, which punishment sending it back to Donbas. There was no prior announcement of his mobilization, he appeared in his uniform and, after two months mobilized, Girkin received Putin’s pardon and returned to his Telegram channel.
There he continued with his usual criticism and attacks on the Russian president and its war, until this Friday, July 21, when it has been arrested by the Russian authorities, and convicted of a crime of “extremist activities”as reported by his wife on her social networks.
