Ex-Minister of Defence of the self-proclaimed Donetsk “people’s republic” (“DPR”), Igor Girkin (Strelkov) has announced that his return to Moscow is due to the fact that he had been unable to “participate directly in combat”. His message was posted on his Telegram account.
Girkin said that he had arrived in the “DPR” at the beginning of October and signed up as a volunteer fighter. Allegedly, he was recruited on the same day, as a member of the “march company of the Nth Motorised Rifle Brigade of the 1st Corps of the DPR People’s Militia for subsequent transfer to the Nth Battalion of the Nth Infantry Regiment”.
“I was (unofficially) made aware of the fact that the ‘unauthorised’ enlistment to the DPR People’s Militia led to disapproval of the ‘higher-level command’, but I was assured that this issue would be ‘solved in time’, meanwhile I would be doing my duty, formally as a private (which I was just fine with, seeing as I had no plans to lay claim on command positions and related insignia)”, Girkin added.
According to him, he spent a long time serving as an acting chief of staff of the battalion on the train grounds; in November, he went to Svatove with the rest of the fighters. There, he spent 10 days preparing the battalion for deployment to the front line, then he went back to the brigade’s location. Soon, Girkin learnt that he was not listed as a member of the regiment and his name was no longer on the brigade personnel’s list.
Allegedly, he was put on the list of the marching company members for one day, and then he was transferred to the Nth Regiment for one day.
“As a result, from October to the end of November, I was a member of the Nth Battalion of the Nth Regiment illegally, I was carrying arms and ammunition illegally, I went to the area of the special military operation combat and to the frontline zone illegally. If something happened to me during these missions then… Do I need to explain that it would be represented exclusively as ‘opportunist Girkin’s independent actions’ or (best case scenario) an accident during my ‘volunteering’?”, he questions.
According to Girkin, the command knew all about it and received equipment on his account. Eventually, Girkin surrendered all weapons and went to Moscow.
Igor Girkin previously said to have enlisted in Russia’s Armed Forces starting from 14 October.
On 16 October, the Defence Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine announced that it was offering a $100,000 reward for handing Igor Girkin over to Ukraine’s captivity. “It’s known that one of the most popular Russian terrorists has decided to resume his participation in the war against our state,” the corresponding message stated.