A GREY AREA

Despite frequent admonitions by official Baku, the British government has done nothing to prevent the visit of the odious leader of the Karabakh separatists, Bako Sahakyan, to the shores of foggy Albion. Last week the "de-facto president of Nagornyy Karabakh" (this was how he was presented by the British) visited London where he spoke at the Royal Institute for International Affairs (Chatham House) and also had meetings in the British parliament. Despite assurances from the British side that Sahakyan's visit was something in the nature of a tourist trip by an ordinary owner of an Armenian passport, and none of his meetings was of an official nature, facts are facts. The only concession made by the British side was the withdrawal of notices about future lectures featuring Sahakyan which somehow appeared over several days on the Chatham House website. Later, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said that as a retaliatory measure Baku is trying to obtain an invitation to Chatham House of representatives of Nagornyy Karabakh's Azerbaijani community, so that the British people are able to hear alternative views on the situation in the region.

So, the Karabakh separatist leader, who has been recognized in Baku as a war criminal because of his atrocities during the Karabakh war at the beginning of the 1990s, was given an opportunity to set out his views on the prospects for a settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict, in which he takes no decisions.

It is worthy of note that, at the same time, representatives of the Europe-Azerbaijan Society (TEAS), who wished to take part in the discussions to express Azerbaijan's position, were not allowed to attend the meeting. "Even though we have been members of the Royal Institute for International Affairs for a long time, you have refused us, preferring the presence of an experienced expert in the policy of violence," a report of the organization states.

And while the leading criminal extremist of Nagornyy Karabakh was talking about the peaceful ideals of his "republic", a new spokesman for the new regime who has also had trouble with the law has come out of the woodwork. He is German Sterligov, an oligarch who is well known in Russian criminal society and has long been in the sights of the law-enforcement bodies and is a part-time sponsor and ideologist of aggressive nationalism.

It is common knowledge that German Sterligov, one of Russia's first millionaires with an undergraduate degree, is well known as the founder of Russia's first commodities exchange Alisa (named after the tycoon's beloved dog), for which he, according to his colleagues, got the nickname "Puppy". He also initiated a number of extravagant and therefore most likely short-term social projects. Sterligov even tried his hand at politics. Specifically, in 2002 he stood in the gubernatorial elections in Krasnoyarsk Territory and a year later for Mayor of Moscow. In both campaigns the eccentric entrepreneur posed as an…undertaker. Many people in Krasnoyarsk still remember the strange slogans of the eccentric candidate: "Where are you going, Kolobok? - Rushing to buy myself a little coffin!" or "You don't need work-outs or aerobics to fit into our coffins". However, Sterligov flopped like a damp squib at all the elections.

In general, there have been a lot of odd things in the life of the new-sprung resident of Nagornyy Karabakh, but we are interested in other episodes of his life which led to him having to seek refuge in the criminal regime of Nagornyy Karabakh. In 2004 Sterligov and his family left Moscow for Mozhayskiy District, where he ran a farm on land that had been allotted to him. Russia's first millionaire became a bit of a farmer, but rumours still appear on the Internet and in the various media that his farm became a training base for nationalists who then used their skills to carry out their slogan "Russia for the Russians". Paradoxically, having found refuge among the "gooks", Sterligov said he was ready to become the leader of an "ethnically and religiously homogenous Rus" and became well known for his close ties with the extremist organization BORN (Militant Organization of Russian Nationalists), whose main aim is to cleanse Russia from all those in whose circle today for whom the disgraced businessman has only praise. In May 2014 Sterligov expressed his desire to take citizenship of the self-proclaimed "Luhansk People's Republic". Clearly not expecting a reply, Sterligov decided to try his luck in another "grey area" of the former Soviet Union - Nagornyy Karabakh, where any incoming stranger, even one with a criminal past, is perceived as testimony to its international recognition. As for Sterligov himself, who decided to settle in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, his move should not leave one perplexed. I wouldn't be surprised if he was completely unaware what Nagornyy Karabakh was and how much blood of innocent people had been shed in the ancient Azerbaijani town of Susa, from where Sterligov smugly spoke about "human values". Anyway, it is he who is credited with the adage: "Only an imbecile who doesn't love his own child sends him to school."

Be that as it may, Sterligov, with his rich experience of shady deals, obviously knew which way he was heading. "German Sterligov, who has had a controversial career, before setting off for Armenian-occupied Azerbaijani territories must have known that these territories were a great place for laundering dirty money through Armenia's banking system and for carrying out criminal activities," the head of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry's press service, Hikmat Haciyev, said. He also said that Sterligov's name had been entered on the "black list", and so because of his disregard for Azerbaijan's territorial integrity entry into the republic is now closed to him.

Sterligov now intends to build a second freedom in Armenian-occupied Nagornyy Karabakh and his wife the "Alena Sterligova high-class Karabakh fashion house". However, these plans are hardly destined to be carried out. According to the lawyer, Aleksey Sklyarenko, if the investigation reveals that the businessman was involved in the work of the extremist organization BORN, Sterligov could get 15 years in prison. "Some of BORN's members have been prosecuted under article 209 for armed robbery. The punishment for being part of an armed organized gang is from 8 to 15 years in prison," Sklyarenko said.  

The lawyer expressed confidence that at the preliminary hearing Sterligov will face many questions about his dealings with the extremist organization.  Depending on what the investigation turns up, the businessman could be charged with organizing extremist activity (up to six years' imprisonment) or involvement in a criminal organization (up to four years). 

"According to the media, Tikhonov (one of the founders of BORN who was given life imprisonment) revealed that Sterligov funded the activities of extremists, and this comes under another article - up to three years," the lawyer Sklyarenko added. He also pointed out that if the investigation can prove that the businessman did fund BORN and provided it with land for training members of that organization, then the terms will be treated separately.

"All these circumstances will be discussed by the relevant bodies and a decision made as a result of the investigations," the lawyer stressed.

German Sterligov's aide, Polina Sirota, hinted at the true circumstances of the businessman's flight to Nagornyy Karabakh - an unrecognized "republic" where a fugitive probably hopes the hands of the Russian Themis will not reach him. "Serious circumstances forced him to leave. It's not bandits, no, it's a higher level," she said. 

Bearing in mind the capabilities of the Russian authorities to find and punish wanted men, wherever they are, one can be sure that Sterligov's Karabakh trip will have a dramatic ending.

But let's go back to the subject of Sahakyan's visit to London. While one of the world's leading powers is pandering to war criminals, the criminal regime of Nagornyy Karabakh is merely reaffirming its image by offering asylum to people with a very dubious reputation. The position of the British authorities is nothing but disappointing. Official London is uncompromising towards the separatists in Ukraine, imposing all kinds of sanctions on the activists of the separatist movement in Crimea and the Donbass. Can one imagine Britain giving entry permits to the leaders of the DPR and LPR separatist regimes, Aleksandr Zakharchenko and Igor Plotnitskiy? Hardly. So why is this being allowed for one of the most active members of the separatist movement in Nagornyy Karabakh who has played an active part in committing war crimes on part of territory recognized as Azerbaijani by the whole world, including Great Britain?

History shows that the policy of pandering to terrorists means trouble. The current events in the Middle East and in other parts of the world show what dividing terrorists into ours and theirs means. This policy eventually boomerangs. For many years Azerbaijan has been raising the question that the territory embracing Nagornyy Karabakh and seven other occupied districts, which is out of their control, has been turned by Armenia into an unsupervised region, where all the conditions for drug-dealing, terrorism and other cross-border manifestations of organized crime have been created. If Britain, to the detriment of its own vast economic interests in Azerbaijan, has chosen the "Kara-bakh card" as a means of pressure on the republic, then this is definitely a losing card.