Vladimir Putin criticized by Igor Girkin for his visit to Crimea: “Cretinism flourishes”

Former Russian commander Strelkov Igor Ivanovich, better known as Igor Girkin, has denounced President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Crimea, saying “cretinism is flourishing”.

Girkin was scathing at Putin in a March 18 social media post on Telegram, where he appeared to insist the visit had no purpose while mentioning that the International Criminal Court (ICC) had issued a arrest warrant for the Russian leader.

“They already issued him an arrest warrant, and he still didn’t understand anything,” he told his 800,000 Telegram subscribers. A year ago, it was necessary to visit military units and formations, and he was all..chizhikov mange’… that is, historical and archaeological complexes are inspected, [and] built by military builders.

“Who, it must be understood, have nothing else to do in war. Cretinism blooms and smells, and there is no end.”

Putin visited Mariupol in the occupied Donetsk region, which was one of the most contested and bombed cities in Ukraine during the war.

The president considers the territory to be part of Russia and annexed the region, along with other parts of eastern Ukraine, in September last year.

Ukraine and its allies do not recognize the annexation and kyiv considers the region to be under occupation.

Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister, compared Putin to Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler for visiting one of the most heavily bombed cities since the war began last year.

Putin also visited occupied Crimea on Saturday, illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, which he tried to legitimize through a referendum not recognized by Ukraine and the United States.

His visits came after the ICC issued an arrest warrant against him for alleged war crimes, namely the unlawful abduction and transportation of Ukrainian children and teenagers to Russia.

As Girkin punched Putin, he admitted to having “mixed feelings” about the arrest warrant issued by the ICC. He claimed it was “a spit not only against him but also against Russia”.

In the past, Girkin has shared rants about Russia’s domestic and foreign policies and referenced conflicts between the country’s military leaders.

He had previously said: “The conflicts between the management of PMC [Private Military Company] “Wagner” and the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation should also be encouraged in every possible way, while not allowing the conflict to end in favor of one of the conflicting parties – both are important and valuable to us, each performs its task within the framework of our plan.

“In the future, there should be more such conflicts, they should constantly escalate and expand, and the parties should discredit each other.”

He added that Russian forces had “no chance” of controlling parts of Ukraine after an unsuccessful winter.

Newsweek contacted the Kremlin for comment.