Igor Girkin is sitting in prison awaiting trial, where he is suspected of inciting extremist activity.
Ultra-nationalist war blogger and former commander of separatists in eastern Ukraine Igor Girkin will run for office in next spring’s presidential election in Russia, Reuters reports.
Girkin is also known as Igor Strelkov.
In its news, Reuters cites the update of the Russian Telegram channel SOTA. WAR posted a videowith which the representative of Girkin’s support association Oleg Nelzin reads Girkin’s statement at the press conference.
The Russian presidential election is scheduled to be held next March 17. In practice, it is clear that the president Vladimir Putin will defeat all his opponents in the elections by clear numbers.
Girkin has been in custody since July awaiting trial. He is suspected of inciting extremist activities. Girkin’s supporters said in September that his criminal investigation would be continued until December 18.
Known as a vocal critic of Putin, Girkin has hinted about his candidacy before. In August, he said that he would be a better president for Russia than Putin. At the time, he described Putin as “too friendly”.
Girkin, a former commander of the Donetsk “People’s Republic” army, was one of the key figures in 2014 when Russia illegally annexed the Crimean peninsula.
Last year, Girkin was one of three men who sentenced to life imprisonment by a Dutch court About the downing of the Malaysia Airlines plane over eastern Ukraine in 2014.
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