“The Embassy of Ukraine in Georgia states that they are on a constant connection with citizens of Ukraine who were stuck in the buffer zone on the Georgian border”, – WRITE: www.radiosvoboda.org
As Radio Liberty reported at the request of the project “How do you?” The first secretary of the Embassy of Ukraine in Georgia Andriy Bilyk, the Embassy “took measures to provide the citizens of Ukraine with food, essentials and medicine.”
“The situation with citizens of Ukraine who were purposefully and illegally deported by the Russian Federation to Georgia is under the control of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, the Embassy of Ukraine in Georgia and other state departments of Ukraine. The Russian side has pressure on Ukraine in violation of the rules of international law at the expense of human factor, ”Bilyk said.
He added that the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs is ready to provide the Green Corridor for transit travel of Ukrainian citizens in the framework of evacuation through the Georgian territory.
“In cooperation with the foreign policy agencies of transit countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine processes the evacuation routes and coordinates the technical aspects of the return of Ukrainian citizens to the Motherland. The embassy continues to keep the situation under control, ”the embassy said.
The day before, Ukrainians stuck in a buffer zone on the Georgian border stated that they did not intend to stop hunger strike after meeting with an employee of the Ukrainian Consulate, who came to them. The meeting with the diploma representative was one of the conditions for termination of the protest action.
According to the latest data, 15 people are involved in the starvation, which was known on Wednesday.
Sergiy Larko – one of the Ukrainians who declared a hunger strike – in a comment to Radio Liberty reported that on the evening of August 6, Ukrainians met with the first secretary of the Embassy of Ukraine in Georgia Andriy Bilyk. However, according to Larka, the official could not give a clear answer to the question – in particular, when they leave this territory and return to Ukraine, so men continue their hunger strike.
The New Newspaper Europe also reported that in the evening of August 6, the first secretary of the Consulate of Ukraine in Georgia came to the Russian-Georgian border. He managed to take about eight people, after which he went, saying that he intended to come.
According to the Ukrainians who visited the reception, they said that the diplomat answered them “by the template” and “said nothing expressive.” Participants of the hunger strike stated that they would continue to refuse to eat until the issue of their stay at the border is resolved.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has previously stated that Russia is sending more deported ones that “may indicate a purposeful Russian operation.” According to the Ministry, 96 citizens of Ukraine are currently in the buffer zone of the Dariya checkpoint.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs added that after receiving a notification of an indefinite starvation of the Consul of Ukraine in Georgia, they immediately went to the border for a meeting with citizens of Ukraine at the Dariala’s checkpoint and appealed to the Georgian side demanding urgent and unobstructed access. The consuls are permanent connection with the citizens of Ukraine who are at the Darialai checkpoint.
Diplomats noted that the Ukrainian side is “actively working” to find as soon as possible for transit of Ukrainian citizens and return the next groups of people in the near future from Dariala checking.
Russia sends prisoners to the Russian-Georgian border, who were originally convicted in the territories of Ukraine, which were subsequently occupied by the Russian Federation. In most cases, they served their sentences in Russian colonies, where they were forcibly exported.
Georgia’s authorities state that most of these citizens have been convicted of particularly serious crimes, do not have the necessary documents for the crossing of the border, and their admission to the territory of the country is “threatened”.
Georgia is currently the only route through which Ukrainian expired people can return home from the occupied territories or after deportation to Russia. At the same time, without any documents, Ukrainian experts for weeks or months are stuck at the Russian-Georgian border until they receive confirmation from the Embassy of Ukraine that they are its citizens. After that, they can get a white passport in a diploma in the capital of Georgia and return home.
For the first time, the journalists of the Radio Liberty project spoke about this problem. In the documentary “Back me home”, they showed how Ukrainian deported by the invaders overcome the way home. And in July last year, during the presentation of the tape in Kiev, this issue was discussed with human rights activists, representatives of the prosecutor’s office and the then Minister of Justice Denis Martuska.