On October 30, Hikmet Hajiyev, a top aide for Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, shared on Twitter a photo claiming to show a BM-30 “Smerch” rocket that was launched by Armenian forces at the village of Alasgarli in the region of Tartar.
The photo shows the heavy 300 mm rocket nailed into a small wooden table on the side of a road in a prefect manner. A number of nearby chairs also appeared to be intact.
Photo of the Day. #Armenia fired Smerch missile. Alasgarli village of Tartar region. The missile will be decommissioned by ANAMA soon. Most likely and luckily it did not explode. pic.twitter.com/Ydb4jJI1Ct
— Hikmet Hajiyev (@HikmetHajiyev) October 30, 2020
Hajiyev’s photo was criticized and regarded as “propaganda” and “fake” by hundreds of Twitter users. The Azerbaijani official said the rocket didn’t explode. However, many argued that a BM-30 rocket, which can weight more than 800 kg, would have easily broken the table even if it did not explode.
Several Twitter users mocked Hajiyev’s claims by responding to his tweet with edited copies of his original photo. One of the photos featured Arayik Harutyunyan, President of the de-facto state of Artsakh, having coffee at the table.
The coffee was good tho! pic.twitter.com/bZPl2Zxt94
— Loki (@Loki1349) October 30, 2020
This one looks more realistic, please use this version. pic.twitter.com/MfrCrrdbhV
— Քուրինջու, 兄 (@CringeJutsu) October 30, 2020
Azerbaijan claims that the Armenian military has used BM-30 rockets against civilian areas on a number of occasions since the outbreak of the war in Nagorno-Karabakh on September 27. At least four systems of this type were destroyed by Baku’s forces.
This was not the first time Hajiyev was accused of spreading propaganda. In the past, he shared photos showing the remains of Azerbaijani rockets and drones, claiming that they were launched at civilian areas by Armenian forces.
