Seventeen Ukrainian men deported from Russia are now trapped in legal limbo at the Russian-Georgian border.
According to a report by the independent news outlet Holod on Thursday, the men are living in harsh conditions without any documentation.
Among them is 31-year-old Oleksandr Shulgin, who shared that they have been confined to a windowless basement at the Dariali checkpoint.
Shulgin explained that Russian authorities confiscated his documents when he was detained in January for immigration violations. After being held for seven and a half months, he was released and left at the Georgian border on August 2 without his papers.
Shulgin, who had lived in Russia for a decade, said he and the other men, some of whom have been stranded for up to two months, have not been allowed to enter Georgia. The group includes former prisoners whose sentences have ended and migrant workers expelled from Russia for lacking proper documentation.
Some members of the group are suffering from tuberculosis.
“It’s damp, and condensation drips off the pipes. We’re being held in captivity. We can’t go out onto the street, and nobody tells us anything,” Shulgin said.
He added that volunteers bring them food once a week, but they remain uncertain about their next steps or whom they should contact for help.
This situation is not unprecedented.
Similar incidents have occurred in the past, with Ukrainian deportees becoming stranded at the border while attempting to return home via Georgia.
In August 2023, six former prisoners were stuck at the border for 11 days, while another group of 17 spent two weeks in equally dire conditions in October.
In November, eight former prisoners, desperate to draw attention to their plight, resorted to threatening self-harm.
