Thursday, October 09, 2014

How Strelkov lost the plot

In the Moscow Times, Allison Quinn gives an interesting insight into the workings of the mind of  the Russian separatist leader Igor Girkin, aka "Strelkov":
Despite Strelkov's prominence as one of the top fighters in the Ukraine conflict, however, Zakharchenko implied he was generally not regarded highly by his fellow fighters.
An example of Strelkov's ruthlessness involved a plan to destroy nine-story buildings in Slovyansk, a strategy that Zakharchenko said triggered a "wild scandal."
This destructive scheme, the product of the fantasies of a "war-re-enactor" (Girkin's peacetime profession and hobby), seems to have endeared him to the men under his command in Eastern Ukraine just as little as his plans to execute them for looting.