Igor Strelkov Girkin, the paramilitary terrorist who shot down the Malaysian Airlines aircraft was today, meant to give a lecture at Foliage bookshop in Saint Petersburg. The bookshop got raided prior to the lecture and the lecture got cancelled. Girkin has called for Putin to resign and insulted him even before Prigohzin attempted his march to Moscow.
Just a couple of months ago, Russian dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza was jailed for 25 years in prison for criticising the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This verdict was expected and repression in Russia is the norm. So, what is significant in the police’s raid of Foilage bookshop is not the repression per se, but that it is being exerted on those who are fighting on the side of Russia in its war against Ukraine.
Girkin may very well shut up if he is to follow his own advice of staying absolutely loyal to the Russian President, and even go back to fighting in the war that he supports so much, but he is still at it on his Telegram criticising the Russian top-military brass, Putin and the infamous Minister for Defense who survived Prigohzin’s coup, Sergei Shoigu. Clearly, so far, Girkin is not giving up his far-right opposition to Putin.
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