Vasily Lvovich Velichko (; 14 July 1860, in

Priluki Pryluky ( ) is a city and municipality located on the Udai River in Chernihiv Oblast, north-central Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Pryluky Raion (district). Located nearby is the Pryluky air base, a major strategic bomber b ...

Poltava Governorate Poltava Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire. It was officially created in 1802 from the disbanded Little Russia Governorate (1796–1802), Little Russia Governorate and had its capital in Polt ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

(now Pryluky, Poltava Oblast, Ukraine) – 13 January 1904, in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

) was a

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

Imperial politician, who served in the

Ministry of Justice of the Russian Empire The Ministry of Justice was one of the Russian Empire's central public institutions and was established on 8 September 1802. The ministry was headed by the Minister of Justice (who was at the same time the Governing Senate, Senate Procurator Genera ...

. He was also a poet, playwright and publicist, one of the leaders of

Russian Assembly The Russian Assembly () was a Russian loyalist, right-wing, monarchist political group (party). It was founded in Saint Petersburg in October−November 1900, and dismissed in 1917. It was led by Prince Dmitry Golitsyn.Figes, p. 196 It opposed li ...

, and editor of the semi-official ''Kavkaz'' gazette. Known as a Russian chauvinist, he demonstrated blatant intolerance to the Armenian people and tried to set them on other populations in the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

. He was active during the period when the Imperial Russian authorities carried out a purposeful anti-Armenian policy. According to the Russian historian

Victor Schnirelmann Victor Alexandrovich Schnirelmann (, b. 18 May 1949, Moscow; frequently spelled Shnirelman in his English-language publications) is a Russian historian, ethnologist and a member of Academia Europaea (since 1998). He is a senior researcher of N. N ...

, "it is curious that his works were re-published in

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

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

Ziya Bunyadov Ziya Musa oglu Bunyadov (, sometimes spelled in English as Zia Buniatov or Bunyatov; 21 December 1923 in Astara – 21 February 1997) was an Azerbaijani historian, academician, and Vice-President of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaij ...

's academy.Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War, by

Thomas De Waal Thomas Patrick Lowndes de Waal (born 1966) is a British journalist and writer on the Caucasus. He is a senior fellow at Carnegie Europe. He is best known for his 2003 book '' Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War''. Li ...

, 2004, p. 152

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Velichko, Vasili 1860 births 1903 deaths Politicians from the Russian Empire Journalists from the Russian Empire People from the Russian Empire of Ukrainian descent