Georgia’s Interior Ministry has said that 65 of the group of Ukrainians who have been stuck in a makeshift detention facility at the Russian border for months have been returned home via a charter flight. An unspecified number still remain in detention, being held in what has repeatedly been described as very poor conditions.
The Georgian Interior Ministry said the 65 individuals were ‘voluntarily’ transferred to Tbilisi International Airport, where they were met by Ukrainian law enforcement officers and then escorted onto a plane to return back to Ukraine.
Information about Ukrainians at the Georgian border began circulating in regional media starting in June, with the numbers of those detained there continuing to increase to almost 90. The individuals had been deported from Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine, but were not allowed to enter Georgia.
They have been living in unsanitary conditions inside an unfinished customs terminal on the Georgian side of the border without basic utilities. Food, water, and medical assistance have been provided by volunteer organisations as opposed to the Georgian authorities.
According to the civil society organisation Protection of Prisoners of Ukraine, several of those detained at the border are seriously ill or have disabilities.
Georgian authorities have repeatedly claimed that the detained Ukrainians are criminals and suggested that allowing them to enter the country would pose a threat to public safety.
Tbilisi also accused Kyiv of ‘artificially delaying the process’ of facilitating their return to Ukraine, with the specific purpose of ultimately forcing them to be allowed into Georgia.
In July, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha alleged that Russia was ‘weaponising deportation of Ukrainians by Georgia’.
Nana Gongadze
