65 Ukrainians returned to their homeland after a long struggle on the border of Russia and Georgia
Ukrainian citizens who were at the Georgian checkpoint "Dariali" for a long time after being deported from Russia have returned to their homeland. Several Ukrainian citizens are still in the neutral zone near the border
As "Kavkazsky Uzel" wrote, Tbilisi previously accused Kyiv of delaying the return of Ukrainians to their homeland. Georgia is ready to pay for the transportation of 87 Ukrainians who are at the checkpoint "Dariali", but Ukraine is delaying the process, the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs said. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry also called on Russia to deliver former convicts directly to the border of the two countries.
In early August, five Ukrainian citizens went on a hunger strike at the Georgian checkpoint "Dariali", they complained that they were not allowed into the country. The hunger strikers demanded that the Ukrainian consul be allowed to see them, that they be given the opportunity to leave Georgia or apply for international protection. After meeting with the Ukrainian consul, the Ukrainian citizens who were at the Georgian border checkpoint "Dariali" ended their hunger strike.
According to the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs, 65 Ukrainian citizens who were at the "Dariali" checkpoint on the border between Russia and Georgia voluntarily returned to Ukraine on a charter flight through a third country.
"The Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs ensured the delivery of Ukrainian citizens from the "Dariali" checkpoint to the Tbilisi International Airport, where they were handed over to representatives of Ukrainian law enforcement agencies. In turn, the Ministry of Internal Affairs ensured the placement of Ukrainian citizens on board the aircraft and their escort during the charter flight," the department's website said today.
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, several Ukrainian citizens are still in the neutral zone near the border. "For their return to their homeland, the Georgian side continues intensive negotiations with the Ukrainian side and international organizations," the report said.
"There were 87 citizens of the Russian Federation in the neutral zone of the Daryaly checkpoint, who asked for permission to cross the state border of Georgia with invalid documents and pretended to be citizens of Ukraine. In the interests of state security, these individuals were not allowed to enter the country, since they all have serious criminal records and have been repeatedly convicted of serious and especially serious crimes. In addition, they did not have valid documents required to cross the border and did not meet the criteria for crossing the state border of Georgia," the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs explained its version of events.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Andriy Sybiga responded to the return of Ukrainian citizens. "We returned 65 citizens to Ukraine who were in the buffer zone of the Russian-Georgian border. Among them are 10 women and 8 seriously ill people," the message on his Facebook page* says.
According to Sybiga, in previous months, the Ukrainian authorities took 44 people from the Dariali checkpoint. Thus, the total number of Ukrainians who were returned was 109 people. According to the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, the crisis on the Russian-Georgian border began in the second half of June, when Russia sharply increased the number of Ukrainian citizens deported from the country.
In December 2023, a group of Ukrainian citizens, mostly former prisoners, waited for a long time for permission to enter Georgia from Russia. Some of them spent about a month at the checkpoint. According to them, only volunteers provided assistance to them.
In October 2023, seven Ukrainian citizens were forced to spend more than two weeks in the buffer zone on the Russian-Georgian border. They had previously served their sentences in the colonies of Kherson; after their release, they were taken to the deportation center in Volgograd and issued orders banning them from entering Russia. While the Georgian authorities refused to let them into the country, volunteers supplied the Ukrainians with food and essentials.
At the end of November of the same year, it became known that the Georgian authorities again refused to let former Ukrainian prisoners into the country. Volunteers managed to get eight Ukrainians through, but another eight people, who by that time had already spent more than two weeks at the checkpoint, remained waiting at the border.