honorific_prefix caption laterwork birth_place allegiance battles birth_date nickname rank image article_title name
colonel igor strelkov in yekaterinburg -lrb- march 2015 -rrb- donetsk -- 14 august 2014 -rrb- people 's republic defense minister -lrb- 16 may moscow , soviet union russia war chechen war 2014 crimean crisis war in donbass of transnistria bosnian war first chechen war second 17 december 1970 `` strelkov '' colonel igor ivanovich strelkov yekaterinburg3.jpg igor girkin
 igor girkin
igor girkin

igor vsevolodovich girkin -lrb- , -rrb- , also known as igor ivanovich strelkov -lrb- , -rrb- , born on 17 december 1970 , is a russian army artillery veteran who played a key role in the war in donbass as an organizer of the donetsk people 's republic independence movement .
girkin , a self-described russian nationalist and imperialist , participant of several other conflicts , was charged by ukraine authorities with terrorism and is currently sanctioned by the european union for his leading role in the armed conflict in eastern ukraine .
ukrainian authorities have called him a retired colonel of the gru -lrb- russia 's external military intelligence organisation -rrb- who participated in the 2014 crimea crisis .
according to different sources , he unreservedly demands that the `` liberal clans '' -lrb- liberal part of the russian elite -rrb- be destroyed .
he is currently being sued by the families of eighteen passengers who were killed when forces under his command allegedly shot down malaysia airlines flight 17 .
