Since the second half of June, Russia has significantly intensified the deportation of Ukrainian citizens across the border with Georgia, causing a humanitarian crisis in the buffer zone of the Dariali border crossing point, with some Ukrainians declaring a hunger strike.

Source:the press service of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry reported this to journalists, as reported by European Pravda

Details:The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry reported that thanks to measures taken by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in conjunction with the competent authorities of Ukraine, 44 Ukrainian citizens have been successfully evacuated from the buffer zone on the Russian-Georgian border since the end of June.

Meanwhile, Russia has continued to deport a larger number of people, which may indicate a deliberate Russian operation, the Ukrainian agency noted.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted that there are currently 96 Ukrainian citizens in the buffer zone of the checkpoint.

"Our state is ready to take its people directly, rather than via Georgia and Moldova. As of now, we note that the Russian Federation is ignoring this request, which also indicates Moscow's desire to deliberately create a humanitarian crisis on the Russian-Georgian border," the Ukrainian foreign ministry emphasised.

On Wednesday 5 August, the Ukrainian Embassy in Georgia received a message from five Ukrainian citizens who were deported from the Russian Federation and are temporarily detained at the Dariali checkpoint stating that they had begun an indefinite hunger strike and demanding that they be allowed to cross the Georgian border.

Other citizens at this checkpoint are also joining the hunger strike.

Upon receiving information about the start of the hunger strike, consuls from the Ukrainian Embassy in Georgia travelled to the border to meet with the Ukrainian citizens at the checkpoint and requested Georgia to grant them immediate and unhindered access.

The consuls are in constant contact with the Ukrainian citizens at the Dariali checkpoint, including those who have gone on hunger strike.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted that most of the Ukrainian citizens deported by the Russian Federation to the border with Georgia are people who have previously been brought to criminal responsibility. Among them are both those who served sentences in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and were forcibly transferred to the territory of the Russian Federation, as well as Ukrainian citizens who were in the territory of the Russian Federation and were convicted of crimes committed there.

In order to resolve the humanitarian aspects of the stay of Ukrainians in the buffer zone of the Georgian border, the Ukrainian Embassy in Georgia is actively working with the Georgian side, involving the International Committee of the Red Cross, the UNHCR and the International Organisation for Migration in Georgia in this process.

Background:

• Human rights initiatives and the media occasionally write about the problem of deported prisoners, citizens of Ukraine, who are stuck on the border between the Russian Federation and Georgia.
• Former prisoners and human rights activists themselves say that they had to wait for a decision on repatriation in harsh conditions – without access to adequate medical care and food and without sufficient sleeping arrangements.
• At the end of June, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs commented that it was aware of the problem of these Ukrainian citizens and was working to bring them back.
• Recently, the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that the process of bringing Ukrainian prisoners back to Ukraine after they ended up in Russia and were then deported by Moscow is proceeding gradually, but it is not easy due to the status of these individuals and the need for numerous approvals.

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