Opponent of Russian nationalists Igor Girkin, a former commander of pro-Russian separatists in Donbas, announced on Thursday his candidacy for the presidency of Russia in the 2024 elections to replace the current “too soft” President Vladimir Putin with one who will not allow the Westerners to “take by the nose,” writes AFP. Girkin was arrested by the Russians on charges of inciting extremism after criticizing President Putin and the Russian military leadership.

“I believe that in military matters I am more competent than the current president,” Igor Girkin, a former Kremlin supporter who has since become a military blogger and fierce critic of the Russian government after the invasion of Ukraine, wrote on Telegram. badly managed by some incompetent commanders.

A former officer of the Federal Security Service of Russia (FSB), involved in organizing the annexation of Crimea and pro-Russian forces in eastern Ukraine in 2014, 52-year-old Ihor Girkin announced in May about a new group that he joined together with other Russian nationalists and decided to enter politics , into an opposition movement that was supposed to prevent Russia from collapsing in the face of internal turmoil as a result of the failed military campaign in Ukraine.

Arrested in early July as part of Putin’s repressive actions against Russian nationalist circles, Ihor Girkin is now behind bars awaiting trial for “incitement to extremist activity.” He faces up to five years in prison, and such a sentence will hinder his electoral ambitions.

“I don’t have millionaire friends, unlike Vladimir Putin”

The announcement of his candidacy had received 13,000 likes by lunchtime, posted on his Telegram channel, which was followed by more than 730,000 people.

“I don’t have millionaire friends, unlike Vladimir Putin, so I won’t have to give in to their demands at the expense of the Russian economy,” Girkin added in his message, referring to Russian oligarchs, although he is considered close to nationalist oligarch Konstantin Malofeev , writes Agerpres with reference to AFP.

• The Kremlin has begun selecting candidates who will run against Vladimir Putin in the presidential elections in 2024

Who is Igor Girkin?

Igor Girkin, nicknamed “Strelkov”, was one of the main commanders of pro-Russian separatists at the beginning of the war with the Ukrainian army in Donbas, after the annexation of Crimea, and probably their most publicized commander at the time.

Before commanding separatist forces in Donbas, Girkin was instrumental in planning the annexation of Crimea and organizing Russia’s infamous “men in green” while serving as an officer in the FSB, Moscow’s main intelligence service.

Girkin was accused of terrorism in Ukraine and was sanctioned by the European Union for his role in this activity.

After the start of the war in Ukraine, on February 24, 2022, he distinguished himself by sharply criticizing Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and analyzing the events at the front.

On November 17, 2022, Girkin was sentenced to life in prison in the Netherlands for his involvement in the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014. The victims of the tragedy were from 17 countries, including 198 citizens of the Netherlands, 43 citizens of Malaysia. , 38 Australians and 10 passengers from Great Britain. 80 of the dead were children.

The investigation into the tragedy was conducted by the Netherlands with the participation of Ukraine, Malaysia, Australia and Belgium.

The court noted that it concluded that flight MH17 was shot down by a Russian BUK anti-aircraft system, and Girkin and the other defendants were accused of arranging for the plane to fall into the hands of separatists and organizing its transportation.

None of the defendants was charged with personal involvement in the downing of the Malaysia Airlines plane, and all were tried in absentia.

Girkin sharply attacked Vladimir Putin

Although in the first months of the war, Girkin blamed the failures and failures of the Russian armed forces on the incompetence of the military command in Moscow, criticizing, in particular, the minister of defense, since the end of last year he began to criticize President Vladimir Putin as well.

“It’s not just me… people are not blind and deaf at all: middle-class people there don’t even hide their views, which, I’ll put it this way, are not entirely pleasant to either the president or the minister of defense,” he said in one of the first such messages published on December 11, 2022.

In a scathing 90-minute video in which he analyzes Russia’s conduct of the war, Girkin also spoke of a “fish head that is completely rotten” and called for measures to reform the army.

In another message from March of this year, he claimed that the only times President Vladimir Putin is real and not a double is when the Kremlin leader appears alone or at one end of the table, away from his guests.

“The real Volodymyr Volodymyrovych was at Christmas, sitting alone in the Kremlin church. unmarried! The priests were probably afraid to approach him. It was probably a sniper who warned that he would shoot if they came closer than 20 meters. This is the real Volodymyr Volodymyrovych, who, when receiving ministers, sits alone on the side of the table and looks at them through binoculars: “Where are they?” he said then.

“This is a real thing. But the one who decorates, unites everyone, there are others, And the one who makes speeches… when I see Putin in the crowd, I immediately see a double. And no one knows what this double is saying. He must be talking nonsense,” he continued.

Girkin compared Putin to a “mummy”

Literally a month later, Girkin announced the creation of the so-called “club of angry patriots”, blaming Russia for the military defeat.

“We entered into a long and protracted war, for which our economy was completely unprepared. Our army and political system were not ready for this either,” he said in an address sent on April 2.

In another direct attack on the Russian president, which was broadcast just last month, Girkin said that Putin, as a military leader, should not hide and take the reins of war.

“Where is Putin? Peskov (no – the press secretary of the Kremlin Dmytro Peskov) makes a statement from time to time and says that Putin knows what is happening, that he is aware of what is happening. You know what, you can give the report to the mummy after all. The mummy is lying down, you approach it, say hello and you can report: let me familiarize you with the situation. This and that happen. The mummy is silent. Have you filed a report? Well, they gave it. The result is obvious,” the accused Girkin said on June 9.

“The Commander-in-Chief has completely withdrawn during the war, and the people in his inner circle are openly fighting each other for leadership. Such actions of theirs undermine stability at the front, and he does not react in any way,” he continued the accusation, referring to the then tension between Wagner’s mercenaries led by Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Russian Ministry of Defense.