Russians who were denied entry to Georgia explained the reasons

Georgia began to close itself from the Russians. Indeed, it is selective. On the border with the Russian Federation, as well as with Turkey, from which our citizens often travel in transit by car, recently, entry denials have been increasingly recorded. After talking with those who were refused, we tried to understand whether this is a lottery or is it a pattern.

The Consulate General of Russia in Trabzon (Turkey) officially announced that such cases began to be recorded almost daily at the Turkish-Georgian automobile checkpoint “Sarpi”.

– The refusal of the Georgian border officials, as a rule, is not substantiated by anything, the reasons for such a refusal are not explained, – the consulate says. – Among the citizens of Russia who were not allowed to enter the territory of Georgia are residents of the North Caucasus Federal District, residents of the Republic of Crimea, citizens of the DPR or LPR, who also have Russian citizenship. Often, Russian citizens living in other regions of the Russian Federation who arrived in Turkey by private car also fall into the number of “refuseniks”.

After talking with the Russians who these days crossed the border with Georgia both in Sarpi and in Upper Lars, we found out that most of the compatriots still let through without problems. True, with one “but”: when it comes to women or families.

“I passed the border in 25 minutes,” says Elizaveta, who was driving through Upper Lars. – Border guards smiled. And everyone who was before and after me calmly passed. But there were two guys – they were left for “clarification”. I hope that in the end they missed them too.

– Most often, they wrap young men with Caucasian surnames or those whose place of residence is unrecognized republics. They already wrote about this on the forums, and if I knew this, I wouldn’t waste time, ”Egor, who has a Dagestan surname, shared. – It’s good that I was not in a car, but on a motorcycle, and didn’t stand in this huge traffic jam.

But I still had to wait an hour and a half – and eventually get a refusal. But I have a lot of European visas in my passport, Berlin is listed as my birthplace, and I am registered in St. Petersburg. This year I have already been to Turkey, Thailand and the Emirates. What can you complain about here?

A resident of Tbilisi, who is familiar with the situation at the border, explained to MK that from the point of view of Georgian border guards, Yegor is just an undesirable type of entrant. In their eyes, this is a typical oppositionist: he has a connection with Europe, often leaves his country. Moreover, he also has draft age: is he trying to avoid possible mobilization?

– On the one hand, Georgia supports the world community in condemning Russia’s actions. Yellow and blue flags can be found everywhere in Georgian cities, processions in support of Ukraine are regularly held on the embankment in Batumi, and in shops and pharmacies on the check you can often read a note that part of the funds will be sent to help Ukraine.

On the other hand, our country really does not want to spoil relations with such a powerful neighbor, who, moreover, brings her a lot of income through tourism and trade. Our people say this: we don’t need your opposition here. If you don’t like the government, take to the streets and protest against it at home.

It should be noted that the two most sensational recent stories of denial of entry to Georgia to Russians concern just opposition journalists. So, Dmitry Aleshkovsky (recognized as a foreign agent in the Russian Federation) was not allowed into the country without explanation, although he had recently lived in Georgia and left it only for a while. The mother of the journalist said that before that they had left the country several times and then returned back, but even then they were questioned at the border for a long time.

Commenting on her son’s refusal to enter, she said that Georgia “trembles in front of Russia.” The second case happened to the photojournalist of the Associated Press and The Insider (recognized in the Russian Federation as a foreign media agent and undesirable organization), Russian Vasily Krestyaninov. He temporarily left Georgia, where he had lived since last year, but was not allowed back.

The fact that active oppositionists are not allowed into Georgia was also previously stated by Georgian journalist Tengiz Ablotia: “At first, 80 percent of all those Russian journalists, opposition figures who are now, some in Latvia, some in Italy, came to Georgia in the first days . If all of them had stayed here, now Georgia would be a full-fledged center of the Russian opposition. Our government thinks it’s dangerous.”

Yegor Kuroptev, director of the Free Russia Foundation’s branch in the South Caucasus, shares a similar opinion. He notes that among those who were denied entry to Georgia recently were activists, journalists and lawyers who either live in Georgia or left Russia because of threats.

However, among the “refuseniks” there are also ordinary people who are far from politics, and even women (although extremely rarely).

– I went by car to Turkey through Georgia. They let me in there without question, but I drove back with a creak – I was on the verge of not being allowed in, – Muscovite Evgenia told MK. – At the border, they became attached to the fact that I entered Georgia at the end of March. To be honest, during the first months of the events in Ukraine, I really lived there and returned to Moscow only at the beginning of August. So, at the border, the Georgians began to extort: ​​“Why did you leave Russia exactly when all these events began?” And at the same time they smiled slyly. And I didn’t know what to say to them. But still they missed it.

“My friend and I are Kabardians and went to Georgia for a concert of a fashionable DJ,” another Russian, Dmitry, told MK. – At first we were sent to the queue for the passage of cars, but when we saw the Kabardian region by car, they ordered us to go to a separate office. The guy smiled politely, asked for a long time where we were going. We showed him printed tickets. He took a picture of them, sent it to someone via WhatsApp and told them to wait. Two hours later they brought paper sheets in which the reasons for the refusal were listed in Georgian and English. On the contrary, the item “other cases not specified by the legislation of the country” was ticked. In general, the trip was covered.

– It is the oppositionists and residents of the Russian Caucasian republics that are interested in Georgians at the border, – Russians Maxim is sure, who regularly has to travel by car to Georgia and back. – I know from experience: if you are a simple Russian family man from the middle lane, you are not interesting. Both Tatars and Kalmyks are quietly let through.