Igor Girkin, high escape risk: Ex‑FSB officer's prison struggles
Igor Girkin is a former FSB officer and one of the separatist leaders in Donbas. In 2024, he was sentenced by a Russian court to four years in prison for "incitement to extremism." He has now been classified as a "high escape risk" inmate in a penal colony, which presents a significant problem. What does this mean?
Igor Girkin became a prominent figure in Ukraine's situation. In 2014, he commanded one of the units in Donbas during the armed uprising against Ukrainian authorities. For nearly three months, he served as the Minister of Defense of the Donetsk People's Republic and was one of the leaders of the separatists who destabilized the region.
Moreover, in November 2022, a court in The Hague sentenced him in absentia to life imprisonment in connection with the crash of the Malaysian Boeing 777, MH17, in the Donetsk region in the summer of 2014. He was found to be one of those responsible for the attack by Russian forces on a passenger plane flying to Kuala Lumpur, which killed 283 people.
Moscow considered Igor Girkin's comments in the media as "incitement to extremism." The former leader of the separatists in Donbas was critical of the situation in occupied Crimea and also spoke harshly about the salaries of Russian soldiers from the so-called Donetsk People's Republic. He became an unwavering critic of Vladimir Putin.
Russian services detained Girkin in July 2023 and, a few months later, sentenced by the court to four years in prison. Putin decided to take revenge on him.
Igor Girkin has problems. His wife revealed everything
As reported by the independent portal Meduza, Igor Girkin was classified in the penal colony as an inmate "prone to escape." Once again, he has significant problems in his country.
Girkin's wife, Miroslava Reginska, believes that this classification prevents him from applying for conditional release from the penal colony, which he reportedly planned to do. In such a case, he could only get out of prison in 2027.
Reginska also expressed hope that there are "reasonable people" in the administration of the penal colony who will not "create artificial obstacles" to her husband's conditional release.
Igor did not break the internal regulations, never refused to work, and during his entire stay in the colony, there were no negative incidents or complaints from the administration. Not for a single day in his life was he on the wanted list, he never hid - she assured.
Additionally, the woman emphasized that she does not know what arguments the colony's leadership used to classify her husband as prone to escape.
