43 Facts About Igor Girkin

Igor Girkin was dismissed from his position in August 2014, after 298 people died when Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down.

Igor Girkin has admitted "moral responsibility" but denies pushing the button.

On 17 November 2022, Igor Girkin was found guilty for the murder of 298 people, convicted of all charges in absentia, and issued a life sentence.

Igor Girkin, a self-described Russian nationalist, was charged by Ukrainian authorities with terrorism.

Igor Girkin has been 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.

In October 2022, Igor Girkin joined a volunteer unit fighting against Ukrainian forces.

Igor Girkin was born in Moscow, Russia, on December 17,1970.

Vice News claimed that "during the 1990s, Igor Girkin wrote for the right-wing Russian newspaper Zavtra, which is run by the anti-Semitic Russian nationalist Alexander Prokhanov" and where Alexander Borodai was an editor.

Igor Girkin has fought on the federal side in Russian counter-separatist campaigns in Chechnya and on the pro-Moscow separatist side in the conflict in Moldova's breakaway region of Transnistria.

The newspaper said Igor Girkin was born in Moscow and that it contacted him by email and phone but that he would not confirm the claims.

Cherkasov and other observers suspected it was in fact the same "Strelkov" until May 2014, when Igor Girkin himself confirmed he has been present at Khatuni in 2001, where he fought against the "local population".

The emails leaked in May 2014 and allegedly authored by Igor Girkin contain his diaries from Bosnia and Chechnya that he sent to his friends for review.

Igor Girkin was one of the major "Russian self-defence" commanders in the 2014 Crimean crisis.

Igor Girkin stated that under his command, the rebels "collected" deputies into the chambers, and had to "forcibly drive the deputies to vote [to join Russia]".

Igor Girkin was reported to be instrumental in negotiating the 2014 defection of the Ukrainian Navy commander Denis Berezovsky.

Igor Girkin's position was above that of self-declared Crimea prime minister Sergei Aksyonov.

Igor Girkin personally negotiated and oversaw the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from Crimea.

On 12 April 2014, Igor Girkin led a group of militants who seized the executive committee building, the police department, and the Security Service of Ukraine offices in Sloviansk.

Igor Girkin claimed that his militia was formed in Crimea and consisted of volunteers from Russia, Crimea, and from other regions of Ukraine and many people from Donetsk and the Luhansk region.

In July 2014, Ukrainian authorities alleged that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu coordinated all of Igor Girkin's actions, supplying him and "other terrorist leaders" with "the most destructive weapons" since May and instructing him directly, with Russian President Vladimir Putin's approval.

Ukrainian government claims Igor Girkin was behind the 17 April 2014 kidnapping, torture and murder of a local Ukrainian politician Volodymyr Rybak and a 19-year-old college student Yury Popravko.

Igor Girkin said nothing about his own background, denied receiving weapons or ammunition from Russia, and announced that his militia would not release the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe observers that it had taken hostage unless pro-Russia activists were first freed by the Ukrainian government.

Shortly before this, a video was posted on YouTube in which Igor Girkin desperately pleaded for military aid from Russia for "Novorossiya" and said Sloviansk "will fall earlier than the rest".

Igor Girkin's retreat was strongly criticized by the Russian nationalist Sergey Kurginyan.

Kurginyan accused Igor Girkin of surrendering Sloviansk and not keeping his oath to die in Sloviansk.

Kurginyan believes that surrendering Sloviansk is a war crime, and Igor Girkin should be responsible for that.

On 10 July 2014, news outlet Mashable reported finding execution orders three days earlier for Slavov and Lukyanov in Igor Girkin's abandoned Sloviansk headquarters.

The orders were signed "Strelkov" with the name Girkin Igor Vsevolodovich printed underneath.

In July 2015 a writ was filed in an American court by families of 18 victims formally accusing Igor Girkin of "orchestrating the shootdown".

DNS representative Sergei Kavtaradze refuted this news shortly after, saying Igor Girkin is "alive and well".

In November 2014 in an interview for "Moscow Speaking" radio, Igor Girkin said that "the existence of Luhansk and Donetsk People's Republics in their current form, with the low-profile but still bloody war, is definitely convenient for USA in the first place, and only for them, because they are the ulcer that divides Russia and Ukraine".

In late April 2014, "Strelkov" was identified by Ukrainian intelligence as Colonel Igor Girkin, registered as a resident of Moscow.

Igor Girkin acknowledged that anarchy exists among the so-called Novorossiya militants.

Igor Girkin stated that Igor Bezler's militants in particular acted independently, the so-called "Russian Orthodox Army" had split in half, and other forces represented a patchwork of various unrelated groups.

Igor Girkin criticised the ongoing attacks on the Donetsk International Airport as pointless and harmful.

Igor Girkin noted that "he never separated Ukraine from Soviet Union in his mind" so he considers the conflict as a "civil war in Russia".

In May 2016, Igor Girkin announced the creation of the Russian National Movement, a neo-imperialist political party.

Igor Girkin has a pro-war position, but has been noted for criticisms directed against the Russian military and the Ministry of Defence, including the defense minister Sergei Shoigu, in how the invasion has been unsuccessful, inefficient and insufficient.

Unlike the liberal and pro-democracy opposition to Vladimir Putin and independent journalists who are persecuted for criticizing the war in Ukraine or Putin, ultra-nationalists and pro-war activists like Igor Girkin are considered untouchable because they are protected by high-ranking members of the military and intelligence services.

Bellingcat journalist Christo Grozev believes Igor Girkin is shielded from being censored by a "war party" inside the FSB.

Igor Girkin said that full mobilization in Russia was the "last chance" for victory.

In early October 2022 Igor Girkin left for Ukraine in order to fight in one of the Russian volunteer units.

Igor Girkin is a fan of the military-historical movement and has participated in several reenactments connected with various periods of Russian and international history, especially the Russian Civil War where he would play a White movement officer.