One of the most colorful personalities last year was the figure of 43-year-old retired colonel Igor Ivanovich Strelkov (Igor Vsevolodovich Girkin). Recently, this bright character has become a true legend and has attracted a lot of attention from the press of the whole world. Who is this Girkin-Strelkov? Until a certain moment, his biography remained a mystery to both his supporters and people who did not adhere to his position. Therefore, today we will talk specifically about him.
Brief information about Strelkov’s childhood
"Shooter", aka Girkin, was born in an ordinary military family on December 17, in 1970. As the parents of a future history buff say themselves, it was already clear then that their child would be special, and it was he who was destined for a difficult fate. And so it happened.
From a young age, little Igor was interested in history. He liked knights, mythical and fairy-tale characters and, of course, heroes who saved the world from the next end of the world. True, at that time they were somewhat different than modern Spider-Man, Batman and other heroes. However, Igor Strelkov (Girkin) was interested in all of this. The biography of this hero of our time is very saturated.
School and school years Girkin-Strelkova
At school, he read a lot, studied well and even went to the gold medal. Many of his classmates, as it turned out later, considered him closed and a little strange (most likely due to the fact that our hero preferred books rather than live communication). But in general, he was an ordinary boy who could both fight and naughty.
Strelkov's studies at the institute
Upon graduation, Igor Strelkov-Girkin (his biography is presented in this article) successfully passed the exams and entered the university of historical and archival orientation. According to many former Strelka classmates, he was a smart and serious student, as well as a reliable friend. He studied well and immersed himself in history. According to them, the young Girkin easily mastered any science and mastered the subjects of the institute's program. So, Igor could easily demonstrate any country on the map and tell in detail about its history, battles and much more.
In addition, Strelkova was interested in the uniform of the military, about which, it seemed, he knew everything. Therefore, the young Igor Ivanovich could easily recognize the form of a military man and talk about which country this kind of clothing belongs to, etc. Girkin-Strelkov could easily tell all this. The biography of this character does not contain bright student realities, since young Igor did not like noisy parties and tried to avoid them. The only thing that interested the young man was the first-year archaeological excavations in Pskov. There, a promising young man had a great time and received a lot of useful information.
Since 1989, Igor Ivanovich became seriously interested in the history of the so-called White movement and its reconstruction. This allowed him to find like-minded people and in reality embody historical events that only remotely resembled theatrical scenes from old pre-war plays.
In 1993, Igor Ivanovich graduated from the institute and received a diploma of a historian. However, the position of an ordinary teacher of history did not attract him. On the contrary, he was attracted to military affairs, and then he actually went in the footsteps of his father. That is what fate ordered, as Girkin himself (Strelkov) believes. The biography of the historian ends here and the military career begins. However, the story will repeatedly pop up in the work of Igor Vsevolodovich.
Army and war years Strelkova-Girkina
The military career Strelka began with the army. In the period from 1993 to 1994, he served in the Armed Forces in the 190 missile base in Golitsyno. He later decided to remain in the service and work on a contract basis. At the same time, he was first part of the motorized rifle brigade, and a few years later took an honorary position in military intelligence. So Girkin (Strelkov) served. His biography, at least, speaks of this.
In his own words, Igor Ivanovich, and his real name and patronymic is Igor Vsevolodovich, our hero devoted 18 years to serving in the army. He went from an ordinary military to the position of deputy. commander of the central apparatus. However, Girkin’s career did not end there.
How did Girkin-Strelkov's military career begin?
At the next stage, in his military career, he had the prospect of serving as a volunteer at the call of his heart to the conflict zone in Transnistria. It was here that the biography of Igor Girkin (Strelkov) took an unexpected turn. Our hero was noticed, as he proved himself to be an experienced fighter and a great commander. In Transnistria, "Shooter" directly participated in the fighting from Koshnitsa to Bender in the summer of 1992.
Igor Strelkov-Girkin: biography, photo and service in hot spots
In November 1992, Strelkov volunteered for a hot spot in Bosnia. There he was joyfully included in the second Russian detachment of volunteers, in whose ranks he served from November 1992 to March 1993. At that time, he tried not to catch the eye of the press and not particularly stand out from other Russian volunteers. Later, from March to October 1995, Igor Ivanovich went to Chechnya, where he fought in the Russian special forces of the 166th Guards Brigade. There he participated in the hostilities and was engaged in the implementation, development and implementation of reconnaissance missions.
Later, Igor Girkin (his biography, as you see, is very full of military events) returned to Russia. There he performed certain secret missions. Other sources insist that at that time Strelok was in a circle close to the Russian Ministry of Defense.
And later he was a direct participant in the round table in Syria, where, as some sources say, he played the role of a kind of “agent of influence”. In August 1996, Igor Ivanovich got to the FSB, where he was engaged in the fight against international terrorists as one of the best employees. From there, Girkin left in January 2013.
This decision was caused by a number of reasons, one of which, according to Igor Ivanovich himself, was "the lack of prospects for career growth." That is what Girkin Igor Vsevolodovich later expressed himself in an interview about himself. His biography is very eventful. But did our hero’s “overseas trips” end after he left the FSB?
Who worked Igor Ivanovich further?
Our hero was seduced by the prospect of civilian life. It is possible that he was somewhat tired of military affairs and “lay low” for a short time, taking the position of a safety consultant in a private organization in Moscow.
The Ukrainian conflict and its role in Strelkov’s life
In 2014, Strelkov again fell into the center of hostilities. This time he was in the Crimea, where he assisted in the referendum. There is also information that the "Shooter" played the role of military adviser to Prime Minister Sergei Aksenov.
In April of the same year, Igor Strelkov (biography, family — you can read about all this in our article) went with several loyal people to the city of Slavyansk, Donetsk region. And in May of the same year he was already appointed Minister of Defense of the Donetsk People’s Republic (which, following the example of the Crimea, was proclaimed as a result of a national referendum).
A few months later, the already quite “mature” military group Strelkova was completely surrounded. For this reason, he decided to bring her to the capital of the self-proclaimed republic, the city of Donetsk. Here he also created an army, helped to unite volunteer and rebel battalions. This is evidenced by such a famous person as Igor Girkin, a biography. His family (sister and mother) at this time remains in Russia. Then, for certain reasons, he left his post in the Republic and left for the Russian Federation, where until now he has been collecting humanitarian aid to send it to the Donbass.
