Vasili Lvovich Velichko was a Russian

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

 explorer, and editor of the semi-official Kavkaz gazette.

Known as a Russian chauvinist, he demonstrated blatant intolerance to the Armenians and tried to set them on other populations in the Caucasus

Caucasus

The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...

. He was active during the period when the imperial Russian authorities carried out a purposeful anti-Armenian policy.

According to the Russian historian V. Shnirelman, "it is curious that his works were re-published in Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...

 in the early 1990s and received wide popularity there". Velichko's "forgotten racist tract" was reissued by Ziya Bunyadov

Ziya Bunyadov

Ziya Musa oglu Bunyadov was an Azerbaijani historian, academician, and Vice-President of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan. As a historian, he also headed the Institute of History of the Azerbaijani Academy of Sciences for many years...

's academy.