The imprisoned former separatist commander has announced his candidacy for the Russian presidential elections. When it comes to military matters, he considers himself more competent than the sitting president. This one is “very friendly”.
Jailed former separatist leader Igor Girkin has announced his candidacy for next year’s Russian presidential elections. “I consider myself more competent in military matters than the sitting president and certainly more competent than the Minister of Defense,” Girkin said on Thursday on his channel on the Telegram online service. President Vladimir Putin is “very friendly”.
The head of state was “led by the nose not only by his partners in the West and in Kiev, but also by the heads of our security agencies, secret services and military industry,” Girkin explained. Unlike Putin, he has no millionaire friends, the 52-year-old said, slamming numerous allegations of corruption. However, Girkin is said to be close to ultranationalist oligarch Konstantin Malofeev.
Criticism of the Kremlin’s military leadership
Military blogger Girkin also works under the pseudonym Igor Strelkov and has more than 730 thousand followers on Telegram. In July, he was arrested for “public appeals to extremism” and faced up to five years in prison. Girkin supports the Russian offensive in Ukraine but has publicly criticized the Kremlin’s military leadership.
During the Kremlin-backed uprising in eastern Ukraine in 2014, Girkin became known as the commander of separatists in the internationally unrecognized Donetsk People’s Republic. A Dutch court sentenced him in absentia last year to life in prison for the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over Ukraine in 2014.
Presidential elections will be held in Russia next year. As the elections approach, Russian authorities are no longer just taking tough action against liberal critics, but also against nationalist opponents of the Kremlin who call for an intensification of the war of aggression against Ukraine. (APA)