The Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict as reflected in the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League periodicalsof the perestroika period (basing on the materials from Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper and Sobesednik weekly)

TheAll-Union print media of the perestroika period are a precious source of information on the history of local conflicts in the Soviet Transcaucasia.The study of these materials as a historical source helps better understanding of the collapse of the USSR as a process. In thisstudy an attempt has been made to understand the specific character of the official All-Union Leninist Young Communist League pressas a source of information on the Armenian-Azerbaijani confrontation. The sources analysed in the study are Komsomolskaya Pravdanewspaper, the official print of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League Central Committee, and its colour supplement -Sobesednik weekly. The given periodicals had an enormous circulation (over 20 million KP copies and over 1 million Sobesednik copies)and a great influence not only on the youth, but also on the public opinion in the country as a whole. The given article reveals themain historical topics that were reflected in the Young Communist League press and indicates the problems of their interpretation. It canbe stated that only the moments of the maximum conflict escalation (the 1988 rallies and strikes in Yerevan and Baku, the 1990 "BlackJanuary", the 1991 Operation Ring etc.) were reflected in the Soviet youth press. The origin of the conflict, the formation of the nationalistmovements, the political leaders and the foreign policy aspects were left beyond the sphere of interest of the journalists working forthe Young Communist League periodicals. Mostly the socio-economic factors were named as the reasons of conflict escalation. Theideological predetermination of facts, topics and conclusions also diminishes the significance of the information of the Young CommunistLeague press. Since 1989-1990 both editions stick mostly to the pro-Armenian position of the "democratic" part of the Soviet brainpowerand political elite (A. Yakovlev, A. Sakharov G. Starovoitva and others). The final conclusion is that the coverage of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in Komsomolskaya Pravda and Sobesednik can be defined as fragmentary. The scientific analysis of its origin,development and consequences was not professional but timeserving. The conflict was not revealed as being ethnopolitical and secessional,but rather as a conflict between the Democrats ("Krunk", Armenian Nationwide Movement, Azerbaijan Popular Front and other)and the Neobolsheviks (the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the USSR security forces, the Azerbaijani authorities). The USSRcentral youth press was not ready for an adequate understanding and coverage of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the ethnopoliticaltopics in general. Though it should also be noted that up to 1990 the central Young Communist League periodicals reflect a sincere aspirationfor conflict resolution and an attempt to remain beyond the fight, but neither the Armenian nor the Azerbaijani side appreciatedthis position.

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