Sitting and Being Silent is a Wrong Tactic: Lapshin Appeals to Armenians Following Today's Azerbaijani Provocation

The Russian-Jewish traveler and blogger Alexander Lapshin, who has settled in Armenia, published a video on his Facebook page, stating: “My friends sent me a video where Azerbaijanis provoke Russian peacekeepers in Artsakh, claiming ‘this is our Azerbaijani land, let’s go to Stepanakert; we are a peaceful people.’ All of this has been recorded. Russian peacekeepers are trying to stop them. What amazes me in this situation is that such provocations have only started today, and not many years ago. Believe me, having lived for 32 years in the Middle East, they are all like that, and their methods are the same. When I served on the Lebanese border, their accomplices sent their wives and children to the proximity of the Israeli border fence, while they hid behind them. The mob would attack the border fence and start breaking it. When our people (and I among them) fired warning shots into the air, they would start screaming ‘Oh Allah, they are killing us’ and would theatrically flee. All of this was filmed by them and immediately appeared in the news about the Israeli brutal soldiers.

What I want to say is that sitting and being silent is a wrong tactic. They will stop provoking only when you provoke them yourself and expose them in a negative light more often than they expose you. Don’t wait for them to strike first; you must always strike first—directly, even if everything is calm at the moment. Only this guarantees that there will be peace in the future.

What prevents the residents of Armenia from going to Jermuk and rising to the areas where Azerbaijani troops occupied parts of Armenian territory on September 12-13? Take European journalists and several diplomats with you. What will Azerbaijanis do? They are in the territory of the Republic of Armenia that they occupy. Will they open fire live on European diplomats and journalists? Imagine the headlines of global media: ‘Azerbaijani soldiers killed a European diplomat on Armenian territory.’ And the live footage of this killing would become an information bomb. You can come up with an unlimited number of similar scenarios; please contact me, and I will tell you.

Otherwise, you will not be able to fight them. What do you think, will your European upbringing and restraint stop them? You are mistaken. You give them a finger, they will bite your whole hand. Only your cunning, prudence, and the trials you devise for them will stop them.”