Ukrainians stuck on Russian-Georgian border end hunger strike following consular visit

A group of Ukrainians who have been stuck in legal limbo on the Russian-Georgian border for over two months have ended a hunger strike they began on Wednesday following a visit from a Ukrainian diplomat, one of the stranded men told Novaya Gazeta Europe on Friday.

The Ukrainian Embassy’s First Secretary Andriy Bilyk met with the men on Wednesday evening to discuss their situation and convinced them to end their hunger strike, the man said. The men had gone on hunger strike earlier that day to protest their detention, their lack of access to food and medical care, and to demand their release from the basement they are being held in.

“The consul has taken an active interest in our case, and this gives us hope,” one of the men told Novaya Europe, describing Bilyk’s “desire to solve our situation”, though he added that they would resume their hunger strike if a solution was not found by Monday, noting that some of his fellow detainees had been contemplating suicide.

Last week, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) launched proceedings against both Georgia and Ukraine, demanding detailed information on the status of the men, most of whom are former convicts deported from Russia after completing their jail sentences, none of whom have passports in their possession. Among their number are also several Ukrainian civilians who were expelled from the occupied territories by the Russian-installed authorities for opposing the war.

A group of the detained men protested the conditions of their detention on 21 July, with one man slitting his throat, though he survived. The Ukrainians also complained that Georgian border guards had used physical force against them and withheld food while they were temporarily evacuated from the basement following a landslide in the area in late July.