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 real legend and has attracted a lot of attention from the press around the world. Who is this Girkin-Strelkov? Until a certain point, his biography remained a mystery both for his supporters and for people who did not adhere to his position. Therefore, today we will talk about him.
Brief information about Strelkov's childhood
"Shooter", aka Girkin, was born into an ordinary military family on December 17, 1970. As the parents of the future history lover themselves say, even then it was clear that their child would be special, and it was he who was destined for a difficult fate. And so it happened.
From a very 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 the modern Spider-Man, Batman and other heroes. However, Igor Strelkov (Girkin) was interested in all this. The biography of this hero of our time is very rich.
School and school years of Girkin-Strelkov
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 fight and play pranks.
Studying Strelkov at the institute
After graduating from school, 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 comrade. He studied well and immersed himself in history. According to them, young Girkin easily mastered any science and mastered the subjects of the institute's program. So, Igor could easily show any country on the map and tell in detail about its history, battles and much more.
Besides this, Strelkov was interested in the uniform of the military, about which he seemed to know everything. Therefore, young Igor Ivanovich could easily identify the uniform of this or that military man and say which country such clothes belong 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 youngman, are the archaeological excavations carried out in the first year in Pskov. There, a promising young man had a great time and received a lot of useful information.
Starting from 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 in history. However, the position of an ordinary teacher of history did not attract him. On the contrary, he was attracted by military affairs, and then he actually followed in the footsteps of his father. This is exactly what fate decreed, as Girkin (Strelkov) himself believes. The historian's biography ends here and the military career begins. However, the story will repeatedly surface in the work of Igor Vsevolodovich.
Service in the army and the war years of Strelkov-Girkin
Strelka's military career began in the army. In the period from 1993 to 1994, he served in the AFRF as part of the 190th missile base in Golitsyno. Later, he decided to stay in the service and work under the contract. At the same time, he was at first a member of a motorized rifle brigade, and a few years later he took an honorary position in military intelligence. So Girkin (Strelkov) served. His biography, at least, says exactly this.
In Igor Ivanovich's own words, and his real name and patronymic is Igor Vsevolodovich, our military servicethe hero devoted as much as 18 years. He went from an ordinary military man to the position of deputy. commander of the central office. However, Girkin's career did not end there either.
How did the military career of Girkin-Strelkov begin?
At the next stage in his military career, there was a prospect to serve as a volunteer at the call of his heart to the conflict zone in Transnistria. It was here that the biography of Igor Ivanovich Girkin (Strelkov) took an unexpected turn. Our hero was noticed, as he proved himself to be an experienced fighter and an excellent commander. In Transnistria, "Shooter" directly took part in combat battles from Koshnitsa to Bendery in the summer of 1992.
Igor Strelkov-Girkin: biography, photo and service in hot spots
In November 1992, Strelkov went as a volunteer to a hot spot in Bosnia. There he was gladly 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 especially not 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 fighting and was engaged in the implementation, development and implementation of reconnaissance missions.
Later Igor Girkin (his biography, as you can see, is very full of military events) returned to Russia. There he carried out certain secret assignments. Other sources insist that at this time"Shooter" was a member of the 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 acted as a kind of "agent of influence." In August 1996, Igor Ivanovich got into the FSB, where, as one of the best employees, he was engaged in the fight against international terrorists. From there, Girkin left in January 2013.
This decision was due to a number of reasons, one of which, according to Igor Ivanovich himself, is "the futility of career growth." This is exactly how Igor Vsevolodovich Girkin later expressed himself in an interview about himself. His biography is very eventful. But did our hero's "foreign trips" end after he left the FSB?
Who did Igor Ivanovich work next?
Our hero was seduced by the prospect of civilian life. It is possible that he was somewhat tired of military affairs and for a short time "lay low", taking the position of a safety consultant in one of the private organizations in Moscow.
The Ukrainian conflict and its role in Strelkov's life
In 2014, Strelkov was again in the center of hostilities. This time he ended up in Crimea, where he assisted in holding a referendum. There is also information that Strelok acted as a 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) with several faithful to himpeople went 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 Crimea, was proclaimed following a popular referendum).
A few months later, Strelkov's already quite "mature" military group was completely surrounded. For this reason, he decided to take her to the capital of the self-proclaimed republic, the city of Donetsk. Here he also created an army, helped to unite the 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 Donbass.
How did Strelkov's personal life develop?
Since his involvement in the Ukrainian conflict, Strelkov has been recognized as an experienced commander, organizer and leader. He was respected by the militia, colleagues, he was sympathetically treated by the female half of the Donetsk region. What did Igor Strelkov himself think about this? The biography (personal life) of the hero tells that he had previously been married twice. From previous marriages, he has two sons (about ten and sixteen years old). However, in the Crimea, a new love breaks out at Strelok. On December 17 last year, he marries one of his assistants, who is 16 years younger than him.
Currently Igor Ivanovichlives with his wife in one of the houses near Moscow and, according to him, has no plans to go on “foreign business trips.”
