Cryphonectria parasitica, the causal agent of chestnut blight, was officially found in Azerbaijan in 2004. Currently, the disease is widespread and causes severe damage in seven out of eight forest districts where sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa) is native. Studies conducted in 2015 and 2023 showed that the local fungal population is dominated by a single vegetative compatibility type which is also widespread in neighboring Georgia. All 296 sampled and analyzed bark cankers were caused by hypovirus-free C. parasitica strains suggesting that the hypovirulenceinducing virus CHV1 is still not present in Azerbaijan. Here we discuss the possibility of artificially introducing this virus into Azerbaijani C. parasitica populations by treating virulent cankers with CHV1-infected fungal strains.