Crimean Armenians Fight in Karabakh with the Help of Collaborators from “Seilem” Gang
As “ARC” experts point, urgent measures are currently being taken in the occupied Crimea to recruit volunteers to take part in the fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh, with direct assistance from the Russian occupation authorities in Crimea and personally from the “Head of Crimea” Serhiy Aksyonov.
Former “Prime Minister” of Nagorno-Karabakh Anushavan Danielyan initiated the active search for sources of replenishment of mobilization resources of the Armed Forces of Armenia. Mr. Danielyan, who has Ukrainian, Armenian and Russian citizenship, lived in Crimea from 1983 to 1998, served as Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea from July 1995 to April 1998, and was Chairman of the “Crimean Armenian Union”.
After corruption scandals and accusations of Mr. Danielyan in the activities of organized criminal groups, controlled by the Russian secret services (about which “ARC” experts wrote a lot), together with the leader of the “Seilem” group, Vladimir Shevyev, Mr. Danielyan fled to the Republic of Armenia. Since taking office in the ARC authorities, Anushavan Danielyan has maintained business relations with Serhiy Aksyonov as a representative of the “Seilem” gang. Mr. Danielyan lobbied for the business of the leaders of the Armenian diaspora in Crimea; under the control of the Russian special services he involved the diaspora in the events of the “Crimean Spring” in 2014, as well as Armenian Karabakh mercenaries in the conflict in Eastern Ukraine. The “ARC” experts has also repeatedly written about the links between the relevant ethnic criminal groups in Crimea and the Krasnodar Region of Russia on oil smuggling and illegal resort construction.
From the beginning of October 2020, the “Armenian Union of Crimea”, together with Armenian religious and cultural figures, with the support of the Russian occupation authorities in Crimea, primarily members of the “Seilem” group and with Aksyonov’s personal assistance, organized the fundraising in Crimea for the “victims of Azerbaijan aggression”, which amounted to about 10 million rubles during the first week. Also, this Union, with the support of Aksyonov, organized a campaign to gather volunteers – “defenders of Artsakh”, the main locations of which were Armenian religious and cultural institutions in Simferopol, Evpatoria, Feodosia, Yalta, and Sevastopol.
As of October 5, 2020, more than 150 “volunteers” from the Crimea used flights from Simferopol airport, with transfers through Rostov-on-Don, Moscow, Krasnodar and Sochi, began transportation to Yerevan airport, some of them have already taken part in the military activities. Losses of Crimean Armenians during hostilities are being clarified.
It is worth noting that in Armenia, Mr. Danielyan is associated with the activities of Nairi Hunanyan, the ethnic Armenian who lived in the 1990s. in Yevpatoria (Crimea), with his brothers Karen and Armen. Mr. Hunanyan allegedly engaged in journalism and public activities, but he was closely associated with organized crime and Russian intelligence cervices, and then returned to Armenia. Nairi Hunanyan and Karen Hunanyan are currently serving life sentences in Armenia for the September 27, 1999 terrorist attack in the Armenian Parliament that killed eight people, including Armenian Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsyan and Parliament Speaker Karen Demirchyan.
Source: ARC
