Igor Girkin
| Igor Ivanovich Strelkov | |
|---|---|
Igor Strelkov in Yekaterinburg (March 2015)
|
|
| Minister of Defence of the Donetsk People's Republic | |
|
In office 16 May 2014 – 14 August 2014 |
|
| President | Pavel Gubarev |
| Prime Minister |
Alexander Borodai Alexander Zakharchenko |
| Succeeded by | Vladimir Kononov |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Igor Vsevolodovich Girkin 17 December 1970 Moscow, Soviet Union |
| Political party | Russian National Movement |
| Signature |  |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |
 Russia Transnistria Republika Srpska Donetsk People's Republic
|
| Service/branch |
 Russian Ground Forces
|
| Years of service | June 1992 – July 1993 August 1996 – March 2012 2014 |
| Rank | Colonel |
| Battles/wars |
War of Transnistria Bosnian War First Chechen War Second Chechen War 2014 Crimean crisis War in Donbass |
Igor Ivanovich Strelkov, born Igor Vsevolodovich Girkin (Russian: И́горь Ива́нович Стрелко́в; IPA: [ˈiɡərʲ ɪˈvanəvʲɪtɕ strʲɪlˈkof], Russian: И́горь Все́володович Ги́ркин; IPA: [ˈiɡərʲ ˈfsʲɛvələdəvʲɪtɕ ˈɡʲirkʲɪn]), born on 17 December 1970 is a Russian army artillery veteran who played a key role in the Russian occupation of Crimea, and later the War in Donbass as an organizer of the Donetsk People's Republic's militant groups. Strelkov, a self-described Russian nationalist, was charged by Ukrainian authorities with terrorism and is currently sanctioned by the European Union for his leading role in the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities have called him a retired colonel of the GRU (Russia's external military intelligence organisation).
According to different sources, he unreservedly demands that the "liberal clans" (liberal elements of the Russian elite) be destroyed. On 28 May, 2016 he formed the Russian National Movement, a political group in favor of "uniting the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Belarus, and other Russian lands into a single all-Russian state and transforming the entire territory of the former USSR into an unconditional zone of Russian influence."
He is currently being sued by the families of eighteen passengers who were killed when forces under his command allegedly shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.
The Russian media has identified Strelkov as an officer of the Russian military reserves who has expressed hardline views on eliminating perceived enemies of the Russian state and 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. According to various sources, Strelkov took part in the Bosnian War as a volunteer on the Serb side, and in Chechnya under contract. In 1999, he published his memoirs of the fighting in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 2014, he was accused by Bosnian media () and a retired Bosnian Army officer of having been involved in Višegrad massacres in which thousands of civilians were killed in 1992.
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Wikipedia