Igor Girkin, an imprisoned ultra-nationalist, announces his candidacy for the Russian presidency

Igor Girkin, who was arrested after repeatedly labeling Vladimir Putin as weak and indecisive, has announced that he intends to run in the 2024 Russian presidential election.

Who is Igor Girkin?

Girkin, who goes by the alias “Strelkov”, is a former member of the Russia Federal Security Service (FSB).

He was actively involved in the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014, for which charges were brought against him war crimes Including ordering the torture and killing of civilians.

The District Court in The Hague also convicted Gerkin in absentia for his role in the case Projection Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over Ukraine in August 2014.

He remains a staunch advocate of illegal activities in Russia war in Ukraine, but he has recently become critical of Russia’s military and political leadership, his language becoming increasingly inflammatory and hardline. In July, the Kremlin appears to have reached the end of its patience with its diatribes after it wrote on July 18 in a telegram:

“For 23 years, the country has been led by a mean man who has managed to throw dust in the eyes of a large part of the population, and although he is now the last island of legitimacy and stability of the state, the country will not survive another six years of the rule of this incompetent coward.

He also claimed that Russian President Vladimir Put it in He must “ensure the transfer of power to a truly capable and responsible person.”

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He was detained On Friday 21 July, he was charged with “inciting extremist activities”. On Tuesday 29 August the Moscow District Court ordered the 52-year-old to be held in detention until 18 September.

Thursday, August 31 is He announced that he intended to run The Russian president in the elections scheduled for next year.

“Manifesto” Strelkov

His announcement was accompanied by the following statement (translated by the Telegram translator):

Strelkov Igor Ivanovich on his candidacy for the post of President of the Russian Federation

My advantages compared to the current chief in the conditions of SVO operations (the so-called “military special operation”):

1. The President of the Republic refuses to lead military operations (considering) himself not competent in military affairs. I consider myself more competent in military affairs than the current President, and certainly more than the current Minister of Defense, so that I can perform the duty of Commander-in-Chief as required by the Constitution of the Russian Federation.

2. Our president is a very confident person, and Obama, Trump, Macron, Merkel, Poroshenko and Zelensky led him separately. They controlled (meetings) in Minsk, in the Normandy format, in Istanbul and many other places. For my part, I can say: since 2014, I have not called those people who have orally led the current president dear and respected associates, on the contrary, I have never believed them for a second.

3. The current boss is very nice. When the Office of Special Operations Operations began a year and a half ago, it was able to quickly ensure that it was misled not only by respected Western and Kievan partners, but also by the leaders of our law enforcement agencies, intelligence, and military-industrial complex. It turns out that neither the state, nor the army, nor the industry of Russia was ready for war, and the so-called Ukraine is not at all a straw man in military terms. However, all the heads of these structures (as well as others, for example, the Central Bank) remained in their places and continue to surprise us with their incompetence. I’m not cute at all, which I’ve proven in practice.

4. Our president has so many friends among billionaires and other businessmen that he (because of his kindness and breadth of soul) cannot refuse anything. As a result, capital continues to be exported from the Russian Federation, and military production grows much more slowly than the capital of the Friends of the President. I don’t have a single friend, not even a millionaire, entrepreneurial friends are tight, there are few friends in general, and they are all basically poor. Accordingly, I will not have to give in to the wishes of my friends at the expense of the Russian economy.

5. Vladimir Vladimirovich (Putin) is a highly moral person, always true to his word and firmly keeping the promises he made to those who brought him to power in the late 1990s. I have not pledged anything to anyone, and therefore I can ignore all personal guarantees of all Presidents of the Russian Federation from 1991 to the present, and I believe that this is beneficial for the people and the state.

6. I am not as athletic and healthy as Vladimir Vladimirovich was at my age, so I will not be able to disturb you, dear constituents, purely physically for more than 20 years, even if I suddenly have a desire to mess with you after the eternal crisis and its great crises and its most difficult challenges.

Is he serious?

And who can say that his statement drew the attention of political and social commentators to him:

Anton GerashchenkoAdviser to the Minister of Interior of Ukraine I posted a copy of Strelkov’s ad Without comment, a number of his followers said:

Simon Bowdena frequent commentator on the war and possibly referring to the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin, He said The ad was: “The longest suicide note in history.”

Anton BarbashinEditor, The Moscow Times He said: “Strelkov’s supporters are trying to sign him up for the 2024 presidential race. This is probably an attempt to keep him alive by making as much noise as possible.