Armenia's radicals plotting attacks against Russian military?
"This is a foreign territory for you"

POLITICS  08 August 2022 - 17:00

A powerful anti-Russian campaign was launched in pro-governmental Armenian mass media and Telegram channels in order to show the Armenian society that "Russia turned from a very bad ally into an ordinary occupant".

The powerful wave of anti-Russian propaganda was caused by a checkpoint of Russian servicemen on the Meghri-Akarak road (Karvansaray, Zangazur), who stop and inspect vehicles with Armenian license plates. This, however, corresponds to the logic of launching the Zangazur corridor, for the safety and unhindered movement of citizens and cargo through which the border service of the FSB of Russia is responsible. As Caliber.Az reported earlier that only Russian border guards will check the Azerbaijani cargoes and passengers coming from the western regions of Azerbaijan to Nakhchivan, there will be no customs and border checks on the Armenian side.

However, the pro-Pashinyan media and Telegram channels have already labelled the appearance of the checkpoint as an "ordinary occupation".

Moreover, a number of TG channels close to the government of Armenia made an appeal to the citizens of Armenia, stating that the country is losing its sovereignty, urging them not to obey the legitimate demands of the Russian military. They call "not to give documents to Russian servicemen, not to allow their cars to be checked on the given territory, to demand from them to show grounds and permissions for conducting such events on the territory of a foreign country, to call 1-02 with reports about illegal armed people on the territory of Armenia and to make video footage of everything that happens".

One of the pro-government paramilitary groups in the Armenian segment of the social networks also reported that "some foreign troops, allies of our enemy, are setting up roadblocks on Armenian roads."

As we can see, the situation that took place in 1989-1991, when units of the Soviet Army and the Internal Troops of the USSR Interior Ministry were introduced into Armenia in order to establish order and pacify the Armenians, is being repeated. In response, armed provocations against them began to be carried out. In particular, one of the clashes between the Soviet Army and Armenian militants occurred on May 27, 1990, in Yerevan near the railway station, when a group of armed Armenians tried to seize the weapons of the Soviet Army. On the same day, another group attacked a military unit in Nubarashen, a suburb of the Armenian capital. In total, 6 Armenian militants were killed during the fighting, and 10 Soviet soldiers were wounded.

In addition, in 1990-1994, Armenian militants regularly carried out armed attacks on the military units of the Soviet (after 1991 - Russian) army and the Soviet/Russian Interior Ministry troops were deployed in Armenia and Karabakh, with the aim of seizing weapons. Armenians took Soviet/Russian military personnel as hostages and demanded ransom in the form of weapons and military equipment. Ambushes were organized against them.

On July 2, 1991, at 22:15 near the village of Eras senior Lieutenant S. Strizhak was shot from a passing car "Niva" with a handgun. The same night, a group of unidentified men attacked a military guard on the western outskirts of the town of Sisian (Garakilse). As a result, Sergeant A.Babenko was killed and Private A.Belukha was wounded.

It is noteworthy that amid anti-Russian narratives promoted by pro-government circles in Armenia, the activation of the extreme nationalist party "Sasna Tsrer," headed by Jirayr Sefilyan, is being peddled. Thus, the other day, Sefilyan called on "the people to consolidation" and readiness "to make self-sacrifices for the sake of the Motherland." Sefilyan invited those who were supposedly ready to die for the sake of nationalist ideas of Armenian supremacy to his office. In parallel with the processes in Armenia, the radicalization of Armenian-Lebanese migrants, who will have to leave the Azerbaijani village of Zabukh in the Lachin district by the end of the month, is also drawing attention. At the level of party functionaries among the revanchists, there are calls to "organize self-defence" in Lachin and Zabukh.

It cannot be ruled out that in the near future Armenian radicals may start attacking the Russian military in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan and in Armenia itself in order to seize checkpoints and weapons stored there. As we have already noted, they have relevant experience from the relatively recent past.

Caliber.Az