The removal of the statue in Karabakh is a blow to cultural cooperation between the two nations, according to a Russian presidential envoy The dismantling of a monument to renowned Russian artist Ivan Aivazovsky in Karabakh, Azerbaijan, was a “demonstrative unfriendly act” toward Russia, a senior official in Moscow, Mikhail Shvydkoy, has said. The monument in the town of Khankendi, known as Stepanakert in Armenia, was demolished on July 29 – on what would have been the artist’s birthday –