Russian historian and an author of "The History of Transnational Terrorism in the twentieth century" about Armenian terrorism, Oleg Kuznetsov is again accused of inciting ethnic hatred. Eurasia Diary conducted an interview with the author in order to clarify the current situation and political aspects of accusation against him.
Eurasia Diary: Yesterday our editor's office was visited by attorney Elman Pashayev, who is providing you with legal aid in relation to the Russian investigation bodies. Due to this meeting it becomes more or less understandable with legal side of this issue. Now we would like to know personally your point of view to this situation.
Oleg Kuznetsov: First of all, I want to express my gratitude to your publication, which always supports me in a variety of matters and endeavors. Now I became the pursuit object of Armenians again but you didn’t keep silence and didn’t ignore me. All this is very pleasant for me.
As you have already realized, this is not the first attempt by the Armenians of Russia to bring me to criminal responsibility for my political position, therefore, having acquired certain practical experience in these matters, I almost have no emotion for these attacks. It’s understandable for all that it isn’t pleasing when you become the object of interest of law enforcement officers but it doesn’t mean that I’m going to give up.
Now I came up with a quote from Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book", when the bear Balu tells Mowgli before the battle with the red dogs "It will be a noble hunt!". That’s how I feel now. But for now me and my team which consist of not only Elman Pashayev but also several Moscow attorneys with Russian, Azerbaijani and Jewish names wait for a moment when the game become a hunter. I declare with all responsibility that the Armenian lawyer Ruben Kirakosyan, who started this case, eventually will get full-scale retribution in accordance with Russian legislation, and no Armenian lobby, no money from the Armenian mafia in Russia will help him to evade responsibility.
Eurasia Diary: How do you assess the purpose of your persecution?
Oleg Kuznetsov: I’m not a telepath so I can’t tell what’s happening in the head of Ruben Kirakosyan and what directed him and his kin to file an allegation against me to the investigative committee of Russia. On 10 September expires procedural term when the investigator for particularly important cases of the territorial division of the ICR for the Western District of Moscow, A.A.Berlev will issue his decision on the results of verifying this verbal appeal, after which our further actions will become clear both in the legal and in the political field. Depends on situation we have a few defensive and offensive plans which will be brought to an end.
We will give much more than one, as President Putin says asymmetric answer to Ruben Kirakosyan allegations. As I said you before Elman Pashayev will sponsor the publication of my book in USA, and its first English-language edition was already published in Berlin. USA is the next where the best advertisement for my monograph will be completely truthful information that it has become the subject of the prosecution of Russia's law enforcement agencies. There a lot of people who fan out anti-Russian hysteria and Ruben Kirakosyan gave another reason to cast a shadow on the Kremlin. There is no so many people in USA think about Armenian terrorism, to which my monograph is dedicated, everyone will shout that the Russian guide is pursuing a scientist who wrote the truth about the crimes of Armenians. And it will be, and then we'll see what will happen to Ruben Kirakosyan in Moscow after that, who will lose more - he or I. There is one talk: ‘He who sows the wind will reap the whirlwind’ but I am sure that neither Kirakosyan, nor those Armenian oligarchs who guided him, did not think that the situation would develop according to this scenario. The only question is what will be the decision of the investigator, and what kind of political damage Armenians will cause to Russia in this regard.
Eurasia Diary: Are you saying that you are a victim not of legal but of political persecution?
Oleg Kuznetsov: Let's do without loud words and pathos. There has always been political persecution by Armenians in my address over the past few years but there is still no legal prosecution. In my opinion, the investigator is doing his job very honestly and professionally, the results of which we will not know until a month later, and before that time we should not give any estimates, this can be regarded as pressure on the investigation. Therefore I won’t say anything about this but I should say that Andrei Berlyaev, after our communication, impressed me by absence of any bias but in the nearest month everything can change.
Concerning the political context of the claims of Armenians addressed to me, they are not as obvious as it may seem at first glance. The reason lies much deeper in the absolutely perverted understanding of their sense of justice. It's no secret that all Armenians consider themselves to be the most ancient nation and the top of human civilization, and therefore, any criticism against them is not perceived in principle, and any crime committed by them is considered a right thing if it promotes the realization of their collective interests. That’s why they consider their own crimes as heroism, terrorists as heroes, and me as their enemy. In my face they pursue the enemy and protect not only their own Armenian terrorism but also the right to use terrorism in order to solve their political purposes and to achieve national interests. It’s not about me By and large, it protects the right invented by Armenians for themselves to be terrorists with impunity and he does not care that the rest of the world of this right does not recognize and will not do it. Including me as an honest and law-abiding citizen of Russia.
There is one more nuance of which he didn’t even guess when he has organized a pre-investigation check for me, thereby rehabilitates him, that in accordance with clause 2 of Art. 1 of the Russian federal law "On Countering Extremist Activity" is one of the signs of extremism, and as soon as the verification is completed, I will certainly file a statement with Kirakosyan accusing him of extremist activity, and then all his words and already recorded words will be used as evidence already on my charge. He wanted a fight, he will get it, none of us in this situation can’t lose. There comes a "moment of truth" when all masks are reset. I am waiting for the day when I will be able to call Ruben Kirakosyan "a lawyer of Armenian terrorism" publicly in a court.
Natalia Guliyeva
