The Azerbaijani authorities have committed another act of cultural vandalism in Shushi, completely destroying the city’s historic Old Armenian-Russian cemetery. This has been documented by the international monitoring organization Caucasus Heritage Watch (CHW).
Satellite images studied by CHW show that the historical and cultural site was wiped off the face of the earth between May 9 and 14, 2026. The destruction was carried out under the pretext of the construction of a sewage and rainwater treatment plant in Shushi.
This cemetery contains at least 35 tombstones dating from 1810–1871. The remains of 19th-century Armenian residents of Shushi, artisans, doctors, civil servants, and Russian soldiers were buried here. Among them was the commander of the 42nd Armenian Regiment Vladimir Mikhailov, who participated in the heroic defense of Shushi in 1826, as well as Moscow-born Sofia Regina Reander, whose tombstone had a Latin inscription.
In addition to the 19th-century memorial stones, there were also five medieval Armenian khachkars in the cemetery area. They irrefutably proved that this area had been an integral part of the Armenian spiritual and cultural environment since the deep Middle Ages.
The CHW records that this spiritual and historical area had withstood all wars, political upheavals and changes of power, but in 2026, under Azerbaijani control, it was completely destroyed. This is another recorded case of the Azerbaijani regime erasing the Armenian trace after the occupation of Artsakh and the forcible displacement of the local Armenian population.
