Russian peacekeepers' commanders in Karabakh: Lentsov transforms into Volkov

While Azerbaijan is successively achieving restoration of full sovereignty over the entire Karabakh economic region, some actors of the post-conflict settlement are trying to prevent it from doing so.

As is known, Armenia still has not withdrawn its troops from Karabakh, and the Russian peacekeeping contingent is not making any efforts to hurry it up. In fact, they not only lack the said efforts in this regard but they practically cater to the activities of the Armenian military and the remnants of separatist gangs.

Proof of this can be seen in the numerous videos of Azerbaijan’s Defence Ministry: they clearly demonstrate armoured vehicles of peacekeepers accompanying the trucks with Armenian bandits. Other footage, previously shared by Caliber.Az, shows Armenian military drills in Karabakh. The separatists are also carrying out fortification works. The shelling of Azerbaijani posts does not stop.

And this "peacekeeping" support, it seems, not only did not weaken but increased after the appointment of Col Gen Alexander Lentsov to the post of Russian peacekeeping contingent commander in Karabakh.

The question is, why did the Kremlin suddenly replace Volkov with Lentsov, a more influential military commander? Recall that if the three previous commanders were Lt Gens and Maj Gens when the new commander is already a Col Gen.

It should be noted that Lentsov used to hold rather important military posts - deputy commander of the Airborne Forces, deputy commander of Russian Ground Forces, deputy commander of commanders of the grouping of the Armed Forces in Syria, and advisor to the Russian Defence Minister. He participated in the Afghan and Bosnian wars: in the first one, he was an airborne instructor, in the second - commander of Russian peacekeepers. Lentsov also participated in two Chechen campaigns. He was a member of the Russian peacekeepers in Bosnia and in 2014-15 he took part in the annexation of Crimea and then Donbas.

Moreover, the Ukrainian media noted that while serving in Donbas, Lentsov was seen organizing the torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war. And there is also yet unconfirmed information that Lentsov, as a young officer, took part in the bloody operation of the Soviet army to storm Baku in January 1990, accompanied by the mass murder of civilians.

Thus, the image of a very tough military man, much harsher and more ruthless than all his predecessors in that position emerges.

This appointment was made immediately after the installation of the Azerbaijani border checkpoint in Lachin in late April, which in one fell swoop ended the illegal transport of weapons and personnel from Armenia to the Karabakh region.

Apparently, Moscow did not complain about Volkov's sluggishness but, rather, by raising the status of its official, attempted to secure some red lines and at the same time to demonstrate that it still considers the South Caucasus to be an area of its strategic interest. This line inevitably entails a demonstration of harsher behaviour towards Azerbaijan by its representative on the ground.

And Lentsov, as soon as he took office, demonstratively showed his pro-Armenian position. After meetings with the separatist leader Araik Harutyunyan and Armenian Defence Minister Suren Papikyan, Lentsov flew to Baku in early May to meet with Azerbaijani Defence Minister Zakir Hasanov, where he tried to achieve a reform of the checkpoint’s activities by the de facto suspension of the Azerbaijani border service. However, he was met with a rather polite, but irrevocable rejection.

Personal motives seem to be added to Lentsov's political objectives. According to some reports, Lentsov's wife is an ethnic Armenian. Forgive me, but no matter how hard we try to assess people purely by their professional qualities and not to focus on ethnicity in general, in some special cases, especially those related to the Armenian diaspora, we have to take into account some nuances. After all, it is known that a certain part of the diaspora has an exaggerated sense of ethnic solidarity and will use any opportunity to lobby for national interests.

So why shouldn't a family member of a Russian officer do this? Especially, one of the highest rank and operating in Azerbaijan? There can hardly be any talk about the impartiality of such a military officer...

But Lentsov's personal interest is not limited to the factor of closeness to Armenians either. According to our information, Russian peacekeepers deliver and, subsequently, sell fuel to the remnants of armed gangs. In other words, instead of contributing to the full disarmament and withdrawal of the remnants of band formations from Karabakh, they are engaged in destructive activities and are simply speculating and warming their hands on the difficult situation.

In general, it is nothing new - Lentsov is repeating the toxic path of his predecessor Volkov. It should be recalled that Volkov, having arrived in Karabakh, quickly acquired his own business interests in the zone of temporary responsibility of the Russian peacekeepers, including vineyards in the village of Pirlyar. Moreover, abusing his official position, the Russian officer Volkov covered up the smuggling activities of the separatists.

We have written many times about shady dealings in which Volkov was involved. But in order not to be unfounded, we should add that even the Armenian media reported his corrupt activities. It was pointed out that the peacekeepers take bribes from Armenians and make money by transporting goods and people.

So, it is very logical that Lentsov, having Volkov's business experience, does not mind finding ways to make unearned money. And he found his ways quickly enough. As noted above, there is a border checkpoint in the Lachin district, which now requires considerable artifice to import various goods under the guise of products for the Russian peacekeeping contingent with subsequent resale.

Undoubtedly, Azerbaijan carefully checks what is brought into its territory, although unable to check to whom exactly these or those goods are resold. For example, peacekeepers present spare parts for equipment as their own but then resell them in Karabakh.

By the way, some Armenian Telegram channels have already informed, "I do not understand why nobody raises the issue of peacekeepers' hoarding in Artsakh [Karabakh region of Azerbaijan - ed]. They make money on everything - on people leaving, on food import. The bribes are astronomical and grow every day. Not a bad bonus to the minimum wage of the peacekeepers.”

So far, there are not too many manifestations of discontent. Just at the moment, the Armenians still harbour certain hopes for Lentsov's "tough steps" towards Azerbaijan, in particular, that he will contribute to the liquidation of the Lachin checkpoint. And when they finally realise that no general can stop Azerbaijan's legal actions to restore its sovereignty over Karabakh, they will unleash the bile they can hardly contain on Lentsov. His tormented wife will suffer too. Probably even more. At least, she will be called a traitor.

We do not know whether Lentsov promised the Armenians to liquidate the Lachin checkpoint, or promised only to try to do this, as well as we cannot assert that he demanded a fee for these efforts. However, the very algorithm of the behaviour of the newly-made commander suggests that he continues the "glorious" path of Gen Volkov.

The question remains how far can Col Gen Lentsov go in pursuit of personal interests? Will the officer's honour become an obstacle on this path? Does he have it?