90 Ukrainians are waiting to cross the border at Verkhniy Lars

The number of Ukrainian citizens waiting to enter Georgia after being expelled from Russia has grown to 90. Human rights activists have called for assistance.

As "Caucasian Knot" reported, dozens of Ukrainian citizens after being expelled from the Russian Federation are waiting for an identity check in the basement of "Verkhniy Lars", since Georgia refuses to let them into its territory until the procedure is completed. Only one volunteer organization provides them with food, water and medicine, and they are forced to live in the basement of an unfinished building near the checkpoint. By the end of June, 57 Ukrainians were on the border.

Already 90 Ukrainians were locked on the Russian-Georgian border waiting to be allowed through, all of them are forced to live in a room without utilities in unsanitary conditions, the Memorial Human Rights Defense Center* reported on July 16.

The Volunteers Tbilisi group, which helps Ukrainian citizens at the border, called the situation a “humanitarian disaster” and announced a collection of aid, calling on Tbilisi residents to bring non-perishable food and hygiene items to a point on the territory of the Holy Trinity Church. The food and medicine that the volunteers buy themselves is no longer enough for everyone.

“There are only 17 sleeping places in the room, the temperature is almost 40 ° C, there is no fresh air. People are taken to the toilet one by one, under escort. Food is running out,” the organization’s Telegram channel said. The volunteer group published a video filmed by Ukrainians in a room at the checkpoint: in the recording, they show that people are forced to sleep on the floor on their own things and dry clothes that they managed to wash in the same rooms.

According to volunteers, one person from the basement was hospitalized, and the team agreed to take him to the hospital only for a fee - they were paid 500 lari (about 184 US dollars). The hospitalized man is in serious condition, he suffered a stroke and is partially paralyzed.

Political prisoner Andrei Kolomiets, who managed to return to his homeland in July after ten years of imprisonment in Russia, spent several days at the checkpoint. According to him, Ukrainians expelled from the Russian Federation are rarely allowed to cross the border and only a few people at a time, and many live in the basement for months.

* added to the register of foreign agents by the Russian Ministry of Justice.

** the activities of the Meta company (which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp) are prohibited in Russia.