Andrei Nuikin in the afterword of Viktor Krivopuskov’s book “Rebellious Karabakh” wrote:
“And if the pan-Turkists did not succeed in isolating the immense expanses of the Great Turan during the first wave of the chaotic collapse of the USSR, then I take the liberty of asserting that it happened only because Karabakh warriors stood in their way to their death, like the Greeks in the Thermopylae Gorge or Russians* near Stalingrad.
They got up and stood up – with a wild imbalance of forces, with irreparable losses, and extreme overstrain of resources. The first (direct and explicit) attack of new contenders for the conquest of the world failed.
The breakthrough to the unmeasured expanses of a poorly populated and almost defenseless Russia, as it seemed to the pan-Turkists, was blocked. Islamists lost their breath in the very first round of World War III.
They had to take the towel in the ring and, catching the breath and treating the broken nose, rush to the cherished goal via other, more devious, routes.
It seems that Karabakh would not be able to resist in those difficult months without underground that was so well-organized, skillfully conspiratorial, and inextricably linked with the people.
And Karabakh is not Russia, on the expanses of which thousands of kilometers can be ceded before the pressure of superior enemy forces and then recaptured. The Karabakh people had nowhere to retreat. A single tank attack from Aghdam in a couple of hours can engulf the entire region*.
During our front-line business trips, we often spent the night with another hero of the book Dr. Valery Marutyan. Almost every evening, this calm, courageous man, after an intense duty at the hospital, took a rifle and went with his son Arthur for another duty — a night, combat one. In a single camp, under the invisible but very clear and clever leadership, he has lived through the severe blockade day after day, month after month.
A little later, he formed a compact and the most combat-ready army in the entire CIS (and, I think, not only in it), which would do a miracle over which military experts from all over the world are still puzzled, especially the Turks.
Karabakh survived. And it was a victory. But such victories over such an enemy which befell many Karabakh citizens are not easy. The people in this paradise of the Earth are tired of war, devastation, and blockade.
They accomplished a feat that will be sung by historians of the whole world when they finally grow wiser and are able to understand what exactly these people did for humanity. And if they don’t grow wiser, it’s all the worse for them. But for Russian chroniclers not to understand this is impermissible and sinful.
It’s all the more important for Russia to realize who and at what cost fought off the very first frantic attack on the Russian state in the current situation when it was almost openly declared a full-scale war.”
Notes:
* In the Battle of Stalingrad perished my grandfather, and he was not a Russian. It would be fairer to say that in that battle, the peoples of the Soviet Union stood to death, even though some of them did not participate in the battle or the war. I am talking about the Transcaucasian Tatars who were called Azerbaijanis at that time.
** Recall that since 2013, Russia has been openly and actively supplying offensive weapons to Azerbaijan, including modern T-90 tanks, which makes the possibility of a repeated large-scale tank offensive through Aghdam relevant.
From 2013 to 2016, Russia supplied $6 billion worth arms to Azerbaijan, which would serve as a catalyst for a sabotage war against Armenia and Artsakh, as well as the four-day war in April 2016.
Now, a $5 billion or more expensive agreement is being carried out between Russia and Azerbaijan. The amount is no longer important!
Otherwise, the words of Andrei Nuikin are truly golden.
“Rebellious Karabakh”, Victor Krivopuskov
