Strelkov: funds and weapons to start the war in the Donbas were obtained in Crimea
During his debate with Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny , former head of the DPR (Donetsk People’s Republic) separatists Igor Girkin, also known as “Strelkov”, said that he trusted Russian President Vladimir Putin when he saw that Putin opposed the West and what he did with the annexation of Crimea.
The former separatist leader clarified that he thought Putin’s next step would be to clean up his surroundings.
“In 2014 I supported Putin because I really believed that he would carry out the revolution from above. Because his actions in the foreign policy field… demonstrated that he had crossed the Rubicon, in fact he had entered into an irreconcilable conflict with his western friends and benefactors. Consequently, I was convinced that the next step which would make it possible to make progress in the further establishment of Russia’s sovereignty, including economic, would be to clean up his own surroundings,” Girkin said.
“Yes, in 2014, after what was done to Crimea, I understood that this was a Rubicon which could not be crossed back over, and I assumed that our president was a sufficiently intelligent person, sufficiently aware of his own actions, to proceed logically to the next step,” he added.
Girkin clarified that before 2015 he believed that it was necessary to support Putin in the current circumstances, although he specified that never before had he been particularly trusting of Putin.
Girkin also claimed that he acquired the funds and weapons for invading the Donbas in Russian-occupied Crimea.
“I can say that I got weapons in Crimea, I also got the very small amount of money which I had there. Extremely little. And as for the rest of the questions, as an officer who people continue to depend on, those who still continue to serve and fight, I simply cannot and will not answer them, the reason being that answering would deprive me of my officer’s honor,” Girkin said when asked where he acquired the weapons for invading Sloviansk, and who financed this operation, if not Russia’s oligarchic elite.