Lucy Papachristou

The demolition of a modernist arts ​complex in the Georgian capital Tbilisi has ignited outrage from some residents about ‌the future of the city's skyline and from the Italian architects who designed it.

The EU has imposed sanctions on Georgia's Kulevi oil refinery for processing Russian crude, marking ‌the first action against a major Georgian company as Brussels broadens efforts to target entities outside Russia that help sustain its oil revenue.

Armenia has seized control of a cement ​company owned by an arrested opposition leader, state media said on Thursday, as critics accuse ‌Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of waging a crackdown on opponents since winning re-election last month.

The leader of a pro-Russian Armenian opposition party was placed in pre-trial detention for two months on Tuesday after ​being detained on suspicion of large-scale fraud and money laundering, ‌the Armenpress news agency reported, citing a court ruling.

Armenia's parliament passed a ​law on Friday that raises the bar for citizens based abroad ‌to be able to come home and vote, following reported efforts by Moscow to use Armenians living in Russia to influence an election last month.

A Russian court has jailed ​the owner of an LGBT nightclub and two of the club's employees in ‌what it said was the first case brought under a ban on what Moscow calls the "LGBT movement".

Armenia's governing Civil Contract party won an election seen as a test of its handling of a ‌peace deal with Azerbaijan and its growing turn to the West, despite what international election observers called blatant interference and pressure by Russia.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's ruling Civil Contract party, which has brought Armenia closer to the West since taking power in 2018, is squaring off against three main pro-Russian opposition candidates.

Armenian authorities arrested six candidates ​for a pro-Russian opposition party on Saturday, a day before they were due to stand ‌in general elections, state media reported, without giving any reason for the detentions.

Tangled cobwebs dangle from the ceiling in dim light and a pleasant, musky sweetness pervades the air in this ​repository of a precious wine collection, once owned by Georgia's ‌most infamous son, Josef Stalin.