Ukrainian ex-prisoners deported to Russia stuck at border crossing for two weeks as Georgia refuses to let them enter

The Georgian government is refusing to let in a group of former inmates from Ukraine who were forcibly deported to Russian prisons. The seven men have been forced to live on the territory of the Verkhny Lars crossing on the Russia-Georgia border for the last 14 days, the refugee support group Volunteers Tbilisi told Meduza.

According to the organization, the men have been sleeping on the floor of the border checkpoint building and are relying on food and water brought by volunteers.

All of the former inmates were serving sentences at prisons in Kherson when they were transported to Russia in fall 2022, when Russia’s troops retreated from the region. One of the men said that after their release, he and the other prisoners were taken to a deportation center in Volgograd, where they were informed that they’re banned from entering Russia for the next eight years.

Another one of the men reported that he cut his veins to protest Georgia’s refusal to let him enter. (Meduza has a video of the act, which the man gave to volunteers.) He was subsequently given medical attention and his condition is now stable. “We are all citizens of Ukraine and we just want to go back home,” another one of the former inmates said.