What is Igor Strelkov known for – Kommersant

July 21 in Moscow detained former Defense Minister of the DPR Igor Strelkov. Details of his biography – in the help of “Kommersant”.

Girkin Igor Vsevolodovich (known under the pseudonym Strelkov Igor Ivanovich) was born on December 17, 1970 in Moscow into a military family. In 1993 he graduated from the Moscow State Institute of History and Archives.

In 1993-1994 he served in the army, after which he remained to serve under the contract. In the early 1990s, as a volunteer, he took part in the hostilities in Transnistria and Bosnia. Since 1995 he fought in Chechnya.

In 1998-2000, he collaborated with the Zavtra newspaper as a special correspondent. Together with the journalist and political scientist Alexander Borodai, he prepared reports from Dagestan. Later, according to media reports, he headed the security service of one of the commercial structures.

According to Igor Girkin himself, until March 31, 2013 he served in the FSB, from where he resigned with the rank of colonel.

In April 2014, he gained fame as an active participant in the clashes in eastern Ukraine. On April 29, he was included in the list of persons against whom sanctions were imposed – a ban on entry and an asset freeze. On May 15, he became commander of the armed forces of the DPR. From May 16 to August 14, 2014 he was the Minister of Defense of the DPR.

Since 2014, he headed the Novorossiya movement, which was engaged in the supply of humanitarian aid and uniforms for the military personnel of the DPR. In 2015, he planned to create his own political party, in the same year he became one of the founders of the Committee on January 25, which later transformed into the All-Russian National Movement. Wrote a blog and a YouTube channel.

In August 2022, Russian Telegram channels reported on his detention in Crimea while trying to enter the special operation zone with a fake passport. In October, he wrote a statement with a “request for voluntary mobilization” to the DPR army, but returned to Moscow in December.

In November 2022, a court in The Hague sentenced Igor Strelkov in absentia to life imprisonment in the case of the Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 crash.

In January 2023, he received an invitation to join the Wagner PMC, but refused it. In April, he created the “Angry Patriots Club”, which criticized the actions of the Russian armed forces during a special operation in Ukraine.