Kathrine Frich
As Russia marked four years since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, rare dissenting voices emerged from behind bars.
One of Vladimir Putin’s most controversial former allies used the anniversary to deliver a scathing attack on the Kremlin’s war effort.
Igor Strelkov, also known as Igor Girkin, criticised Russia’s leadership in remarks issued from prison, accusing them of presiding over failure on the battlefield.
Anniversary broadside
“Unfortunately, there’s nothing to celebrate,” he said. “We can only congratulate our beloved leaders who brought the situation to the current point.”
Strelkov accused the army’s general staff, the defence ministry and the Federal Security Service (FSB) of producing “extremely negative results.”
“But the main gratitude, of course, goes to our supreme commander-in-chief [Putin], who demonstrated an amazing style of leadership, a step forward, two steps back, a jump in place, and then a step forward, two steps back.”
“This is not how you fight a war, you only lose it this way. Unfortunately, our prospects are bleak.”
Battlefield setbacks
Among recent failures, he cited a strike on Russia’s main missile factory in Votkinsk, reportedly carried out using Ukrainian-made Flamingo missiles, which he claimed were British weapons under another name.
“The enemy massively attacked the Krasnodar Territory. About five days ago, there was a massive attack on Crimea,” he said.
“In fact, the enemy is firing at our territory with British missiles under their own name, and we pretend that everything is as it should be.”
He also complained that advances in the Zaporizhzhia region amounted to roughly 64 feet per day and warned that Russia’s overall position had worsened compared with four years ago.
“In general, we have come to a situation that is much worse than it was four years ago in terms of the prospects for victory.”
Critic from within
Strelkov is a former FSB officer who played a central role in Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
He later turned against Putin and was sentenced to four years in prison on charges of “public incitement of extremist activity,” a case widely seen by critics as retaliation for his attacks on the Kremlin.
He also mocked Putin’s recent speech to senior FSB officials, highlighting what he described as repeated hesitations.
“The understanding that a war of annihilation is being waged against us is still not there in Moscow. They don’t want to accept it.”
Despite his criticism of Putin’s leadership, Strelkov remains strongly anti-Western, arguing that NATO is using the conflict to weaken Russia before entering more directly.
In Western countries, he is wanted over the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which killed 298 people. A Dutch court convicted him in absentia and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
Sources: Daily Express, east2west news
