"True dignity is like a river; the deeper it is, the less noise it produces." (c)

Seeing the mud, thrown on Azerbaijani authorities by blogger Alexander Lapshin, one cannot but recall an expression voiced by the French writer of the Renaissance Michel de Montaigne: “True dignity is like a river; the deeper it is, the less noise it produces.”

Immediately after being pardoned, Lapshin continued being a hero of Armenian propaganda, inventing and publishing tall tales in his blog. Lapshin started to give a load of garbage to Armenians. For example, he began to cite pages from the indictment, signed by deputy prosecutor general of Azerbaijan, in which a mistake was made in the word ‘integrity’. This is his impudent lie and it can be proved by a screenshot, dated September 19, 2013, in which he says the same thing. It shows that his publication about the mistake in the indictment and not only this has been invented by the blogger himself.

Lapshin's exclusive interview with Sputnik Azerbaijan is also full of puddles. Let him speak, as they say - paper will endure. Fortunately after Lapshin’s arrest in Minsk, all anti-Azerbaijani posts in his blog and profiles in social networks were removed, presumably by his civil wife. After all, not everyone has the courage to answer for their offensive attacks and verbiage. If Lapshin considers himself right, why did he allow his records to be deleted? He could have proved his case in the court, at the worst he would be a martyr in the eyes of the world and nominated for the Nobel Prize. But it is one thing to write smeary things in a blog, and the other is to be responsible for one's actions.

Among the stories told in the interview, one detail grabs attention. Lapshin noted that he arrived in Azerbaijan in June 2016 at the invitation of local authorities. "Azerbaijan itself invited me on this trip. I received an invitation from the organizers of Formula One racing, held in June 2016 in Baku. They invited hundreds of journalists and bloggers to cover this event, and I was one of them. I think that the organizers did not even know that my name was on the "black list", and I, in turn, did not inform them. As a result, they themselves paid for my air tickets and accommodation in the Baku hotel, plus a ticket for the actual Formula-1. To avoid possible problems when entering Azerbaijan, I decided to use my Ukrainian passport, where my name and surname are written a little differently, not Alexander, but Oleksandr," he notes.

After being included into the black list of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry in August 2013, Lapshin said at the Internet forum that he would visit the country with another passport and thus challenge the authorities. This record was deleted after his arrest in Minsk.

His words that the Azerbaijani authorities themselves invited him to cover Formula One racing are groundless. The organizers of the Formula-1 did not invite him. Tickets for car racing could be purchased on a free sale, even via the Internet. For the period of motor racing no visa was even needed to enter Azerbaijan- it was enough to show a ticket to Formula-1. If Lapshin was paid for airfares and accommodation in a Baku hotel, and even a ticket for Formula-1, he would have traveled to Baku from Tbilisi by train rather than by airplane. And even more so Lapshin would not have written on his Facebook page about finding the means to travel to Azerbaijan. .  

No matter how many lies and slander would have come from Lapshin about Azerbaijan, it is still time to refresh his memory. The prospect of being in Baku prison scared him already in Minsk. This can be evidenced by the letter addressed by Lapshin to the Azerbaijani authorities from the Minsk ward. In this letter he notes that "Azerbaijan as a caravan goes its own way, and in this case I was a dog". Lapshin can boast as much as possible to the Armenian media and threaten with filing a suit to the European Court of Human Rights, but his letter, confirmed by a notary and certified by the seal of the Consul of Israel in Belarus, is in Baku. Does Lapshin, in the light of this circumstance, think up a story that he was tortured before the Israeli consul to write about himself? However, the blogger already answered this question, likening himself to a dog barking after the caravan.

News.Az