Igor Girkin (who is better known as Strelkov) is a Russian military and political figure, head of the Novorossiya public movement since 2014 and a former commander of the armed forces of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR). In 2014 Girkin played a decisive role in escalating the events in Donbass into an armed conflict.
Igor Strelkov is a Russian nationalist, monarchist and a [White Movement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_movement) supporter.
**A Russian volunteer**
In 1992 he [took](https://web.archive.org/web/20140529173334/http://www.mk.ru/social/2014/05/28/igor-strelkov-kak-knizhnyiy-malchik-stal-komanduyuschim-opolcheniem-donbassa.html) part in the Transdniestrian war as part of a detachment of Black Sea Cossacks. From November 1992 to March 1993 he fought as a volunteer in the war in Bosnia as part of the 2nd Russian Volunteer Detachment. There he was nicknamed “Tsarist Officer” by the Serbs for his monarchist views and manners.
After completing his compulsory military service in 1994, he stayed on as a contract sergeant. He is keen on military reconstructions and has [become](http://www.russdom.ru/node/7813) well-known amongst Moscow reconstructors. From 1998 to 2005 he served in the FSB special forces. Since 1999 he has been published in the far-right newspaper Zavtra, where he writes about the events in Bosnia and criticises Putin. In the newspaper Zavtra, Strelkov met the future prime minister of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Aleksandr Boroday, who worked as a consultant for the “orthodox oligarch” Konstantin Malofeev. After his retirement, Strelkov worked for Malofeev as head of security, where he received a good salary of $7-8,000.
According to [Alexander Cherkasov](https://argumentua.com/stati/chechenizatsiya-ukrainy-dlya-chego-eto-sdelano), Russian human rights defender and chairman of the board of the Memorial human rights centre, in 2001 Igor Strelkov served in the 45th detached reconnaissance regiment of the airborne forces (now the 45th Independent Guard Special Purpose Brigade) near the village of Khattuni, Vedensky district of Chechnya. There he may have been involved in the abduction of at least six local residents.
It should be noted that before the events of 2014 Strelkov was not known to the general public.
**Leader of Novorossiya**
On the night of 11-12 April 2014, Strelkov and 52 fighters crossed the state border of Ukraine near Donetsk Region and seized administrative buildings (police, city council) in the city of Sloviansk, Donetsk Region, announcing that the city was under the authority of the DNR. On 26 April, the interim leadership of the DNR entrusted Strelkov with the leadership of the roadblocks. Strelkov himself was named as the leader of the People’s Militia of Donbass. On 29 April, Strelkov was put on the list of individuals subject to Western sanctions – an entry ban and freezing of assets in the EU. On 20 June, he was added to the US sanctions list. Strelkov is accused of creating “military tribunals” – executions of Ukrainian citizens in Sloviansk. On 11 May, after declaring sovereignty of the DNR, he accepted the post of commander of the DNR armed forces. On 15 May, the Supreme Soviet of the DNR appointed Igor Strelkov as head of the DPR Security Council and defence minister. Strelkov attempted to create an army based on the traditions of the Russian imperial army and Christian values. Among other measures, he issued an order banning profanity among the soldiers. Strelkov is one of four suspects charged with murder by Dutch prosecutors for their alleged role in the 17 July 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over the battlefields of eastern Ukraine, which killed all 298 people on board.
**After 2014**
On 14 August 2014, Strelkov [resigned](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/vladimir-putins-new-alter-ego-is-igor-strelkov/2022/03/30/3cc1c7a0-b000-11ec-9dbd-0d4609d44c1c_story.html) as DNR defence minister “due to a transfer to another job”. Igor Strelkov himself blames his resignation on Vladislav Surkov, who had become the “curator” of the separatist ethnic republics. Journalists believe that Strelkov was too uncompromising and an odious figure for Putin, who could no longer tolerate his presence in power in Donbass. After his return to Russia, Strelkov said that he had no intention of returning to Donbass and also called for political support for President Vladimir Putin.
Strelkov became a head of the Novorossiya public movement, which deals with humanitarian aid and supplies of ammunition and uniforms for DPR troops, as well as assistance to victims of the actions of the Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics’ authorities.
Claimed he despised Vladimir Putin and put up for sale the medal for the annexation of Crimea to Russia which he had received from Malofeev. Criticised Putin for being indecisive and inconsistent and for the fact that his team includes many people who compromised themselves under Boris Yeltsin and continue, in his view, “the anti-state policy of betraying Russians in the former USSR, who are now unwillingly abroad in Russia” and continuing the anti-state “cunning Gorbachev plan”.
**2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine**
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, Strelkov was brought in by some media outlets for interviews as a military expert. On 14 April 2022, he made statements about his readiness to lead the militias of the Russian or Belorussian regions bordering Ukraine in order to prevent attempts by AFU units to penetrate the territories of these countries. Girkin’s posts on the situation in Ukraine included calls to at least partially mobilise the military. Due to frequent calls on social media for mobilization in April 2022, Igor Strelkov became a hero of Internet memes. On 13 August 2022, a number of Telegram channels [reported](https://www.gazeta.ru/army/news/2022/08/13/18323924.shtml) that Strelkov was allegedly detained in Crimea while trying to enter the war zone. He was there with a fake passport in the name of Sergei Viktorovich Runov. A photo of Strelkov without a moustache was also published, as well as the passport with which he was allegedly detained. Strelkov himself denies being detained, but does not rule out that he might one day find himself at the front.
