RFE/RL's Anna Shamanska has been looking at some disturbing things that former separatist leader Igor Girkin (aka Igor Strelkov) said in radio interview recently.
Former Commander Of Pro-Russian Separatists Says He Executed People Based On Stalin-Era Laws
For most of his 42-minute appearance on a radio talk show, former Russia-backed separatist commander Igor Girkin sounded like nothing more than a fanatic discussing a dream now widely dismissed as fantasy.
He spoke of hopes for the creation of a "Novorossia" -- a New Russia stretching across much of Ukraine, from Kharkiv to Odesa, and one day joining a Russian empire including all of Belarus and Ukraine.
It wasn't until the last minute that the interview with Girkin went from surreal to chilling.
Referring to his time commanding separatists in the eastern Ukrainian city of Slovyansk in 2014, a host asks him how he stopped the rampant looting.
"With executions," Girkin said matter-of-factly.
According to Girkin, separatist "authorities" installed a military court and introduced 1941 military laws implemented by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.
"Under this legislation we tried people and executed the convicted," Girkin said.
"While I was in Slovyansk four people were executed. Two among the military for looting, one local for looting, and one for killing a serviceman," he said on the Radio Komsomolskaya Pravda, which is affiliated with a leading pro-Kremlin Russian tabloid.
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