Launched in 2022, the project is called Abastan - "shelter" in Armenian - and is open to participants and guests from around the world. Polina Ivanova, a co-founder of Abastan, said locals in the northern Armenian town of Tumanyan were at first bemused by the strangers in their midst. Arghavan Majd, a painter from Iran, said she found the atmosphere "more free" in Abastan and it was easier to make personal connections. Timofey Moskovkin, a Russian now working in a cafe funded by the charity, said local people in Tumanyan, a town of about 1,000 people, had treated him warmly. "We looked and saw the lights were on, it was beautiful, there was music and young people dancing," he said.

---

Persons: Polina Ivanova, Abastan, Majd, Mahsa Amini, Vladimir Putin, haven't, Danil, Timofey, Mark Trevelyan, Gareth Jones 私 Organizations: Armenia Locals, Reuters, Georgian Locations: Russia, Iran, Ukraine, Tumanyan, Armenia, Soviet, revitalise, Abastan, Russian, Perm, Ararat, Soviet Union