in the campaign “Suppression of the Nokhchi Uprising: Devastation of Villages and Forced Forest Felling by Grekov (1821-1822)”
The Russian Empire cleared the forests of the Nokhchi to deprive their villages of natural protection. Historian D. A. Khozhaev writes that under Yermolov, punitive raids proceeded «with the destruction of the population, houses, crops, orchards, and forests»[1]. The imperial historian Potto confirms that on March 1, 1821, the forest was cut down «in one direction as far as Isti-Su, in the other — as far as the Michik», and in February 1822 «wide clearings were cut through the Gekhi, Goity, Shali, and Germenchug forests all the way to Mayurtup»[2].