Tafro: Girkin, leader of Russian terrorists in Ukraine, has BiH citizenship

Igor Girkin, leader of terrorists in Ukraine, is fighting as a Russian, has BiH citizenship, as do other Russian mercenaries of the RS Army, said Aziz Tafro, researcher and author of the book “Russian and Greek mercenaries in the war in BiH“ for the BiH news agency Patria (NAP).

- Girkin came to BiH very young and without any military education. He only has combat experience, but not officer experience. He is not a militarily respectable figure; he is a hired killer. His military formations can only be at the level of paramilitary formations where the law of the strongest prevails, without any discipline – states Tafro.

He believes that the downing of the Malaysian plane, which killed 300 passengers, for which Girkin claimed responsibility, will certainly not be the only act of paramilitary formations.

- The RS did not need Russians, but they paid a certain number of these volunteers so that Russia could enter through the back door and thus draw them into the war in BiH, which the Army of RBiH did not allow. Their goal was to bring 10,000, but they suffered losses in Sarajevo and Višegrad, and coffins began to arrive in Russia, which stopped the process of mercenaries arriving – says Tafro.

Tafro also states that after the aggression against BiH, the BiH citizenships of Russian mercenaries were not revoked, and they regularly receive pensions in BiH.

- They fought in Syria, Iraq, and after the war in BiH, they worked as deminers. A large number of them still live in BiH – says Tafro.

Regarding the departure of Serbs to the battlefields in Ukraine, which Girkin also confirmed in his statements, Tafro considers it mere propaganda.

- They went to get photographed. They are not fighters, just as they were not from 1992 to 1995. They can go and shoot down a plane, lay mines, and they will continue to do so cowardly, from behind. These are paramilitary and Chetnik movements – says Tafro.

We tried to verify the information about Igor Girkin's BiH citizenship at the Ministry of Internal Affairs of RS, but it is not their jurisdiction, so they referred us to the Ministry of Administration and Local Self-Government of RS.