Recently, there has been an increase in the citation of the infamous terrorist girkin by Ukrainian social networks and mass media. Domestic media resources are briskly spreading his mocking “congratulations” on the World Day of the Rat of the administration of the president of the russian federation, there is a demand to imprison the “war criminal” prigozhin for the “shameful” failure in the battles for Bakhmut, claims about russia’s military defeat and the liberation of Crimea. And the phrase “Vova, shut up and keep a silence” turned into a meme on Ukrainian and opposition russian social networks. Moreover, girkin, together with his Donetsk collaborator gubarev, propagandist kalashnikov and others, created a kind of “club of angry patriots”, which declares its readiness to seize power in the kremlin. Therefore, the image of a fearless opponent of the kremlin authorities and putin personally is formed in the minds of the audience, and his previous reputation in Ukraine as a terrorist and one of the main performers of the “russian spring” in Donbas, who killed and abused the inhabitants of Slovyansk, recedes into the shadows.
❗️ igor girkin-strelkov (citizen of the russian federation, born in 1970, received the surname “strelkov” in connection with the callsign “shooter”) in 2014 took an active part in the separatist movement in Donbas, was involved in the annexation of Crimea and war crimes in occupied part of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Under his command, russian militants captured the cities of Donetsk region and killed Ukrainians who resisted the occupation. On November 17, 2022, the District Court of The Hague, among others, found girkin guilty of shooting down flight MH17. For some time, girkin disappeared from the public field, but on February 24, 2022, he reappeared as a military blogger criticizing the leadership of the ministry of defense of the russian federation, PMC “Wagner” and putin personally.
What is really behind girkin’s anti-putin rhetoric and should he be counted among the opponents of the kremlin regime and “allies” of Ukraine?
The peculiarities of girkin’s biography and moscow’s loyalty to his statements give grounds for asserting that the “girkin-strelkov project” is sanctioned at the highest level and is under the auspices of the russian FSS.
First, girkin is a former employee of the special services, in particular the Department of Countering International Terrorism of the 2nd Service of the FSS of russia (military unit 36391). As putin has repeatedly stated about himself, there are no former special servicemen, so it is undeniable that girkin continues to be under the supervision of the leadership of the special services, in particular o.bortnikov (Director of the FSS of the russian federation) and n.patrushev (former director of the FSS, currently secretary of the russian federation). And it is not surprising that girkin became one of those warlords who were invited to the kremlin last September for the ceremony of putin’s official announcement of the annexation of Ukrainian territories.
Secondly, despite criticizing the kremlin in the public space, especially during the war, the propaganda media ignore girkin, no one detains him and does not condemn him. Against the background, when a little girl is sent to a concentration camp for children for a completely neutral picture “for peace”, and her dad is imprisoned for 2 years, it looks eloquent.
Thirdly, criticism of the kremlin with girkin-strelkov only at first glance works for the collapse of putin’s system. In fact, the “dissatisfaction” of girkin is not caused by the very fact of military aggression against Ukraine, but by how ineptly it is carried out. In addition, the “club of angry patriots” created by him threatens to seize power in the kremlin if putin declares the war lost.
Therefore, the kremlin’s blogger project “girkin-strelkov” is an informational and psychological special operation of the russian special services aimed at achieving certain goals.
In particular, the promotion of girkin among bloggers is aimed at maintaining the “degree of tension” among russian ultrapatriots and supporters of the war until the “victory end.”
And the so-called club of angry patriots is a working out of the kremlin scenario of creating a center for the accumulation of critics of the russian government under the supervision of the FSS. “Live fishing” allows you to single out from among them ultrapatriots and “liberals” (they do not have significant influence) and those who really want political changes in russia (if necessary, you can quickly isolate them). The creation of such a structure allows putin, on the one hand, to demonstrate “democratic” principles to potential voters, and on the other hand, to spread narratives beneficial to the kremlin through the controlled “oppositionist”.
Therefore, the spread of girkin’s statements in the Ukrainian information field distorts reality and gives a simplified view of the russian military capability.
❗️Promoting in the Ukrainian information space the rhetoric of russian sycophants like girkin allows you to manipulate consciousness and distract society from the real state of affairs. Therefore, it is necessary to quote girkin very carefully and with an understanding of what is really behind his statements.
