Girkin: No militia in Donbas – only contractors
There is no militia in the Donbas – all the fighters there are paid to fight against Ukraine, said Igor “Strelkov” Girkin, former head of the so-called the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), during an interview on Roy TV. The video was uploaded on Facebook by Anatoly “Shtefan” Shtirlitz, an officer in the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
“They do not receive money from the treasury of the ‘republic’. They are not a ‘militia’, there is no more ‘militia’. The ‘militia’ ended after Debaltseve [battle]. They are contractors, they are willing to shoot at even their own people for money. They are not a ‘militia’, I stress. There is no more ‘militia’,” Girkin said.
Recently, Girkin announced his intention to auction the gold medal he had been awarded for his involvement in Russia’s occupation of Crimea in 2014, starting the bidding at 1 million rubles ($15,000). He admitted that he needed the cash to deal with certain “financial problems”.