Igor Girkin

Igor Vsevolodovich Girkin (И́горь Все́володович Ги́ркин; born 17 December 1970), also known by the alias Igor Ivanovich Strelkov (И́горь Ива́нович Стрелко́в), is a Russian army veteran and former Federal Security Service (FSB) officer who played a key role in the Russian annexation of Crimea, and then in the Donbas War as an organizer of militant groups in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR).

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

According to The New York Times, "his ideological rigidity precedes any connections he has to Russia's security services, stretching back at least to his days at the Moscow State Institute for History and Archives. There, Girkin obsessed over military history and joined a small but vocal group of students who advocated a return to monarchism."

Vice News reported that "during the 1990s, 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.

Writing for Zavtra ("Tomorrow"), Girkin and Borodai, who too was reported to have fought for Russia-backed Transnistria and Republika Srpska separatists in Moldova and Bosnia and Herzegovina, together covered the Russian war against separatists in Chechnya and Dagestan.

He would also often write as a "Colonel in the Reserves" on Middle East subjects, such as the conflicts in Libya, Egypt and Syria, and for the Abkhazian Network News Agency (ANNA), a Russian-language pro-Russian publication which supports Abkhazian separatism in Georgia.

The Russian media has identified Girkin as an officer of the Russian military reserves who has expressed hardline views on eliminating perceived enemies of the Russian state.

He 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.

In 1999, he published his memoirs of the fighting in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Alexander Cherkasov, head of Russia's leading human rights group Memorial, is convinced that the "Igor Strelkov" involved in Ukraine is the same person as a Russian military officer called "Strelkov", who was identified as being directly responsible for at least six instances (on four occasions) of the forced disappearance and presumed murder of residents of Chechnya's mountain Vedensky District village of Khatuni and nearby settlements of Makhkety and Tevzeni in 2001–2002, when "Strelkov" was attached to the 45th Detached Reconnaissance Regiment special forces unit of the Russian Airborne Troops based near Khatuni.

None of these crimes were solved by official investigations.

The website of Chechnya's official human rights ombudsman lists several residents of Khatuni who went missing in 2001 (Beslan Durtayev and Supyan Tashayev) as having been kidnapped from their homes and taken to the 45th DRR base by the officers known as "Colonel Proskuryn and Strelkov Igor".

Another entry lists the missing person Beslan Taramov as abducted in 2001 in the village of Elistandzhi by the 45th DRR servicemen led by "Igor Strelko (nicknamed Strikal)".

Cherkasov also lists Durtayev and Tashayev (but not Taramov) among the alleged victims of "Strelkov".

According to Cherkasov, as a result of Girkin's actions in Chechnya, two sisters of one of those "disappeared", Uvais Nagayev, in effect turned to terrorism and died three years later: one of these sisters, Aminat Nagayeva, blew herself up in the 2004 Russian aircraft bombings over Tula Oblast aboard a Tu-134 "Volga-Aeroexpress" airliner, killing 43.

The other sister, Rosa Nagayeva, participated in the Beslan hostage crisis that same year.

Girkin admitted responsibility for sparking the Donbas War in eastern Ukraine when, in April 2014, he led a group of armed Russian militants who seized Sloviansk.

His role in the siege gained him influence and attention, and he was appointed to the position of Minister of Defense in the Donetsk People's Republic, a puppet state of Russia.

Girkin was charged with terrorism by Ukrainian authorities.

He has also been sanctioned by the European Union, United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, Canada and Switzerland for his leading role in the war in eastern Ukraine.

Girkin was dismissed from his position in August 2014, after 298 civilians were killed when Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down by Russian-backed militants.

Dutch prosecutors charged Girkin and three others with mass murder, and issued an international arrest warrant against him.

Girkin admits "moral responsibility" but denies pushing the button.

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

Girkin is a self-described Russian nationalist.

After his service in the war, he returned to Russia in 2014 as a political activist, reportedly calling for the "liberal elite" to be destroyed and be replaced by militarists and securocrats.

During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Girkin regained attention as a milblogger, taking a strong pro-war stance but criticizing the Russian military for what he saw as incompetence and "insufficiency".

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

In April 2023, Girkin, alongside some fellow Russian nationalists joined the Club of Angry Patriots, a hardline pro-war group.

He began criticizing Vladimir Putin for incompetence and on 21 July 2023 was arrested by Russian authorities on charges of extremism.

Girkin was convicted in January 2024 of inciting extremism and sentenced to four years' imprisonment.

In 2014, he was accused by Bosnian media (Klix.ba) and a retired Bosnian Army officer of having been involved in the Višegrad massacres in which thousands of civilians were killed in 1992.

The BBC reported Girkin may have worked for Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) in a counter-terrorism unit, citing Russian military experts.

According to Russian media, he has served as an FSB officer and his last role before retirement was reportedly with the FSB's Directorate for Combating International Terrorism.

In 2014 Anonymous International disclosed what it said were Girkin's personal emails, revealing that he had served in the FSB for 18 years from 1996 to March 2013, including in Chechnya from 1999 to 2005, The Moscow Times reported.

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

A local pro-Russia militia leader in Ukraine, Vyacheslav Ponomarev, a self-described old friend of Girkin's, said the information about Girkin was true.

His pseudonym "Strelkov" ("Strelok") can be roughly translated as "Rifleman" or "Shooter".

He has also been dubbed Igor Groznyy ("Igor the Terrible").

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