Azerbaijan shoots at Armenians, but ends up in Moscow and Russia -  Konstantin Zatulin 

ArmInfo. "What is happening now threatens not only the Armenians of Nagorno- Karabakh, it threatens Russia in the Caucasus, because Azerbaijan shoots at Armenians, but ends up in Moscow and Russia. Because this is part of an emerging plan to expel not only Armenians from Nagorno- Karabakh, but also Russia from the  Caucasus. This is my deep conviction," Russian MP Konstantin Zatulin said in an interview with govoritmoskva.ru. 

He noted that the Russian Federation, firstly, must immediately  demand a cessation of hostilities and shelling that are currently  taking place. "I read the statement of the Ministry of Defense of  Azerbaijan, where it is called a counter-terrorist operation. This is  a rather strange operation in which artillery strikes are carried out  on areas and objects. Obviously, this is just a cover up under the  name "counter-terrorism".

In fact, we are talking about the continuation and implementation of  the plan to expel the Armenians from this territory, who, I repeat,  have lived there for centuries. And you know what surprises me most,  although it would seem that nothing should surprise me anymore. I  read today Mr. Markov, in his telegram channel, who said that the war  will be short-lived and victory will be for Azerbaijan. Hurray,  hurray, hurray. People who have long established themselves here as  haters of Armenians - this is their own choice - these people are not  really betraying Armenians. They are betraying Russia's interests in  this region.

We have taken on a peacekeeping mission. We took it upon ourselves in  South Ossetia before, we took it over in Abkhazia. In both cases, the  attack on, say, South Ossetia, became the prologue to our operation  to enforce peace. I don't want to call for such a response  immediately, but I do want to say that this is a blatant violation of  the agreements that were previously reached. Pashinyan is a  scoundrel. But what does this have to do with the punishment of the  scoundrel, who, by the way, long ago disowned his compatriots in  Nagorno-Karabakh; his statements once again confirm this? And the  fact that Azerbaijan is achieving its goals in the region in such  ways is actually qualitatively different from what the Turks did at  the beginning of the 20th century during the First World War in  relation to the Armenians. What was recognized everywhere, including  here, as genocide?" Zatulin said.

Answering the question about whether one of the goals of this  operation is to drive the Russian peacekeeping contingent out of  there or to call in some other one, Zatulin noted that he does not  think that any other contingent other than the Turkish one will suit  Azerbaijan. <In fact, it is not very clear where the Azerbaijani  Armed Forces end and the Turkish ones begin, if you look closely.  It's not a matter of changing the contingent. The fact is that if  this operation continues and leads to battles, then in this case our  peacekeepers will find themselves, firstly, under attack. Because I  don't know of any bullets or bombs that, you know, clearly select  targets during these military operations. And in no case, God forbid,  will any of those serving there in the peacekeeping contingent be  affected. Two thousand people. But the very fact that they are there  at this moment and are not able to - either do not receive commands,  or cannot, in principle, resist this - means a reproach to the  Russian Federation. The reproach of the Russian Federation, which  sent its soldiers there for a peacekeeping operation, seemed to have  reached an agreement with the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan. And  today this agreement is simply thrown down the drain, because  hostilities have begun. And I think that if they grow, then not only  Azerbaijan will take part, but also Iran after some time.

Speaking about whether Azerbaijan will now limit itself to attacks  specifically on Karabakh and what Baku's statements about the opening  of a "green corridor" mean, the State Duma Deputy noted: "This is a  green corridor - just read: a corridor for the deportation of  Armenians, which is the goal of this operation.

Zatulin again called Nakol Pashinyan a scoundrel: "It's obvious that  he's a scoundrel. But, you see, it means, on the basis that he is a  scoundrel, to punish innocent women, children, old people and the  civilian population of Nagorno-Karabakh in general... But this is too  Jesuitical.

In his opinion, objectively, these people (in Nagorno-Karabakh)  should be helped by the tough position of the Russian Federation,  which should call to account those who carry out the shelling. <And  the cynicism of this whole story also lies in the fact that this  happens almost on the second day after the humanitarian corridors  were opened. Here the help of the Red Cross passed along the road  from Azerbaijan and from Armenia from both sides. They accepted this  humanitarian cargo and after that they began a military operation,"  he noted.

"I can say, unfortunately. We are tied to the situation in Armenia,  to the fact that Armenia itself does not declare goals of resistance.  Here, the Pashinyan government has worked hard enough to weaken all  ties and alliances between Russia and Armenia. But we are obliged to  think about our honor as peacemakers, as mediators, and that means  taking steps. I'm sure these steps are being taken, it just needs to  be done loudly and not quietly. In this situation, it must be done  loudly, because in fact hundreds of thousands, if not millions of  people are looking at us, not only in Armenia and Azerbaijan, taking  into account the diasporas that are scattered all over the world," Mr  Zatulin said.