"We have no questions to the Georgian side"

On the Russian-Georgian border-again the accumulation of former Ukrainian prisoners, whom Russia exported from the occupied territories, and then deported

The next cluster of former Ukrainian prisoners taken out of Russia on the Georgian border is caused by shelling in the Kursk region: because of them, a humanitarian corridor was closed, according to which Ukrainian prisoners were exported from Russia. About this Novaya Gazeta Europe was told by Maria Belkin, the head of the Volunteers Tbilisi volunteer organization, who is engaged in the help of Ukrainian refugees.

According to her, there are now 17 former Ukrainian prisoners on the Georgian checkpoint “Daryali”, who were forcibly taken out of prisons in the occupied territories of Ukraine, after which they were forced to sit down in Russian prisons.

All 17 Ukrainians got to the Georgian border across the Russian Verkhny Lars checkpoint, where they were delivered almost without personal documents.

“The flow of Ukrainian former prisoners was always shared as follows: 40% of the freed go through Georgia, and the remaining 60% through the Sumy region of Ukraine, through the checkpoint Kolotilovka. When shelling in the Kursk region began, the corridor was closed, but the new one has not yet been invented. And now the flow of former Ukrainian prisoners through Georgia has increased, ”Maria explains. She confirms that some prisoners wait for documents for about two months: “Unfortunately, this is no longer a record.”

The fact is that often documents of prisoners are stored in personal files. During the transfer to Russia, many documents were lost. After the prison, Ukrainians in Russia usually fall into the TsVSIG - the temporary detention center of foreign citizens, or, more simply, the deportation center. There, too, no one is engaged in documents,

As a result, from the conclusion of Ukrainians they are often released with a sheet of paper, where the surname and name are indicated from the words of the Socialist Republics. It is not surprising that with such documents, Georgian border guards cannot let them into the country.

Georgian border guards, waiting for the former convicts, allowed to accommodate in their utility room. By the way, over the past six months, changes have occurred here: ten beds have been transferred through the Embassy of Ukraine to the checkpoint. Before that, people slept on a concrete floor in sleeping bags or on the blankets brought with them.

“These, of course, are not ideal conditions, since there are ten beds, but there are 17 prisoners. But no one is starving there, there are basic medicines, and if necessary they call an ambulance,” Maria said.

She says that the volunteers are “very upset” when they read reports that humanitarian aid allegedly does not act to people stuck on the border.

“I want to emphasize that this is not true, there is no hunger: we, volunteers, bring the products stably, from 100 to 200 kilograms every week,” says Maria Belkin.

According to her, "nothing has changed globally on the border." Problems began since Russia began without documents to release Ukrainian prisoners from the country who were taken from the Kherson region during the occupation of this territory.

“We still write the Ukrainian side to speed up the process of issuing special documents. But for a clear reason, the Ukrainian authorities do not always have time for this, ”Maria recalls.

“We have no questions to the Georgian side. Only Georgia accepts Ukrainians with a very controversial set of documents: for example, refugees from Mariupol, who had only a driver’s license. This is the only country that today, albeit with difficulties, but still accepts Ukrainians leaving the Russian Federation, ”Maria emphasizes.

It is believed that in total, about 2500 convicted citizens of Ukraine were illegally exported to Russia from the Kherson colonies. The Geneva Convention considers such facts by war crimes.

Hundreds of former Ukrainian convicts have already visited the Georgian border. Some are allowed into the country after a few hours, others - after a few days, now it happens that the procedure is delayed for up to two months.

Nevertheless, sooner prisoners getting into Georgia, and then go home, sooner or later. For example, last week Volunteers Tbilisi took four people from the border in Tbilisi.

Now they have to get in Tbilisi at the Ukrainian Embassy "White Passport" - a document that allows us to get to Ukraine.