Russian saboteur Igor Girkin hopes that Putin will not surrender him to Hague Tribunal

Russian saboteur Igor Girkin (Strelkov) hopes that the Russian authorities will not extradite him to the Hague Tribunal. He told this in an interview with Moskovskij Komsomolets.

The correspondent recalled that "the burden of responsibility taken five years ago (a sabotage raid on Sloviansk, which began the Russian occupation of Donbass – OstroV) is such that it fully admits a scenario in which you find yourself once in the cell of the Hague prison".

"Are you ready for such a development of events?" - he asked.

Girkin replied that he was not afraid of the international tribunal, hoping that Russia would not extradite him as a war criminal. "I consider it unlikely. First of all, I am not going to give up. In no case. Secondly, I believe that the authorities of the Russian Federation are currently not interested in such a development of events", - the saboteur hopes.

"Nevertheless, it is certainly impossible to exclude the option that you mentioned. There is such a threat", - he admitted.

At the same time, the mercenary once again stated that he did not consider the armed invasion of his detachment into the territory of sovereign Ukraine to be a crime.

"My conscience is clear. I proceeded from my own views and beliefs and acted as I considered necessary and correct", - he stated pathetically.

"I decided for myself that if it comes to this (the trial in The Hague – OstroV), I flatly refuse to cooperate with the investigation. I will not recognize its legitimacy", - the saboteur promised.

As OstroV reported, on April 12, 2014, little-known Igor Girkin (Strelkov) entered Sloviansk from the territory of Russia with a detachment of Russian saboteurs. His sabotage-reconnaissance group was seized by the city's police departments and SBU, and Girkin declared himself "acting commander of the DNR militia". Later he confessed that the bloody war in Ukraine would not have started without his detachment. "It was I who pressed the trigger of war. If our squad had not crossed the border, everything would have ended, as in Kharkiv and Odessa. It would be several dozens of killed, burned and arrested. And that would be all. Practically the flywheel of war which is still going on was launched by our squad", - the saboteur stated in an interview with Zavtra far right newspaper. Girkin fell under displeasure of Russian curators in August 2014, and was "dismissed" from the post of "Minister of Defence of the DNR".