The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine has announced a $100,000 reward for the capture of Igor Strelkov and his transfer to Ukrainian captivity.
Strelkov (real name Girkin), also known as Sergei Runov, is a former defense minister of the “DNR”. He became famous in 2014, after the start of the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Girkin led the "DPR" separatists in Slovyansk and later led the militia forces in Donetsk.
He is one of four defendants in the case of the crash of a Malaysian Boeing on July 17, 2014, shot down by a missile from the Buk air defense system in the eastern part of the Donetsk region. The impact killed all 298 people on board – 283 passengers and 15 crew members. Strelkov, along with other defendants – Sergei Dubinsky, Oleg Pulatov and Leonid Kharchenko – was put on the international wanted list. On March 9, 2020, the trial began in Amsterdam, to which none of the defendants appeared.
On October 15, it became known that Strelkov would return as a volunteer to the war in Ukraine.