BAKU, September 22. /TASS/. A T-72 main battle tank-turned-monument, installed by Karabakh’s Armenians at the entrance to the town of Shusha, has been dismantled, the Azerbaijani news agency Trend has said.
"The tank that Armenians placed after the occupation of Shusha in 1992 at the entrance to the town as a symbol of 'victory' has been dismantled," the agency said. Video footage uploaded to social networks shows a crane lifting the armored vehicle and lowering it onto a tow truck platform.
The T-72 tank belonging to the Armenian forces was the first to approach Shusha during the capture of the city on May 8, 1992. It was hit by the crew of an Azerbaijani tank under the command of Albert Agarunov, who would be killed later on the same day and posthumously awarded the National Hero of Azerbaijan title.
After the first Karabakh war, Armenians restored the tank and placed it on a pedestal on the mountainside on the road leading to Shusha. According to local Telegram channels, it is assumed that it may now be taken to a park in Baku where Armenian military equipment seized during the fighting in Karabakh in the fall of 2020 is displayed.
On September 19, tensions flared up again in Nagorno-Karabakh. Baku announced it was launching what it described as "local anti-terrorist measures" and demanded the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the region. Yerevan, in turn, said there were no Armenian forces in Karabakh, calling what was happening "an act of large-scale aggression."
Russia called on the parties to the conflict to stop the bloodshed and return to a diplomatic settlement. On September 20, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry announced that with the participation of the Russian peacekeeping contingent an agreement was reached on the suspension of anti-terrorist activities in Karabakh.