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Law enforcement bodies closely monitor all public structures of Armenian diaspora in Russia - political analyst

Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict Materials 16 October 2020 13:44 (UTC +04:00)
Law enforcement bodies closely monitor all public structures of Armenian diaspora in Russia - political analyst

BAKU, Azerbaijan, Oct. 16

By Jani Babayeva – Trend:

All public structures of the Armenian diaspora in Russia are closely monitored by law enforcement bodies and special services, Russian historian, political analyst, professor Oleg Kuznetsov told Trend.

Kuznetsov was commenting on the information in the Russian media that the Armenian diaspora in Russia is recruiting fighters to participate in hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

"I can definitely say that at present, all the public structures of the Armenian diaspora in Russia are under the close supervision of law enforcement bodies and special services, which excludes the possibility for them to systematically recruit mercenaries or volunteers to participate in the hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh region,” the political analyst added.

“If my memory does not fail, then on September 29, on the third day of the battles, the ambassadors of Azerbaijan and Armenia were invited to the Russian Foreign Ministry while the leaders of the Armenian and Azerbaijani diasporas were invited to the competent structures,” Kuznetsov added. “They were told that they were not allowed to provoke or organize any actions violating the Russian criminal law in the issues related to the extremist activity and mercenary recruitment, while the heads of the diasporas were told about their personal responsibility if they did not keep track of anything and did not suppress it within their communities.”

“Of course, these measures will be unable to stop single fanatics and even small groups consisting of several like-minded friends, if they, privately or individually, suddenly want to go to fight in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, but they are quite capable of stopping the stream of those who want to shoot, numbering in hundreds and thousands,” the political analyst said.

“Proceeding from the experience of my previous professional activity, I know quite well the methods of the response of the security and law enforcement bodies of Russia in such situations,” the political analyst said. “I completely exclude the possibility of the appearance of thousands of Russian Armenian volunteers in Nagorno-Karabakh region, as Deputy Head of the Union of Armenians in Russia Ruben Vardyanian said at the beginning of the battles."

Kuznetsov emphasized that the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation contains article 359, envisaging liability for "recruiting, training, financing or other material support of a mercenary, as well as the use of a mercenary in an armed conflict or hostilities" in the form of imprisonment from 4 years to 8 years.

"This article, as the experience of suppressing the flow of Russian mercenaries to Syria shows, is "working", that is, there is the experience of bringing real people to justice upon this article and sentencing them to real terms of imprisonment,” the political analyst said. “So neither the law enforcement bodies nor the courts will have any problems with its application if such a need arises due to the facts of the participation of mercenaries among Russian citizens in the hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. If nevertheless, anyone goes there, then this person must understand that this is a one-way ticket."

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