Russian court labels Girkin "escape risk"; penal colony troubles deepen
Igor Girkin is a former FSB officer and one of the leaders of separatists 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 the context of the situation in Ukraine. 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 Defence of the Donetsk People's Republic and was one of the leaders of the separatists who destabilized the region.
Moreover, in November 2022, the court in The Hague sentenced him in absentia to life imprisonment in connection with the crash of 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 the 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.
Girkin was detained by Russian services 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." 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 penal colony's administration 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 emphasised that she does not know what arguments the colony's leadership used to classify her husband as prone to escape.
