Georgia offers Kyiv options for safe return of Ukrainians stuck at border after deportation from Russia

This was reported by Ekho Kavkaza.

Among the proposed options are returning the people by sea or air.

"The Ukrainian side is still not ready to return (citizens) by sea and hasn’t yet made a specific decision on their evacuation. Still, active joint consultations are underway to agree on a mechanism for safely bringing these people home, including by air. We hope the Ukrainian side will make a timely decision to return its citizens," said Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The report also says that most of the citizens have criminal records, including convictions for serious and especially serious crimes.

"The Ministry of Internal Affairs' top priority is to ensure public safety and order and to prevent entry of individuals who may pose a threat to the security and peace of the population," the ministry said.

Tbilisi also stressed that people arriving from Russia, trying to cross into Georgia with invalid documents and posing as Ukrainian citizens, do not meet the criteria to cross Georgia’s state border.

• Earlier, Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Ukrainian citizens deported from Russia after serving their sentences were being kept in poor conditions at the Russian-Georgian border.
• On July 19, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian diplomats were working to arrange the return of Ukrainian citizens whom Russia had taken to the Georgian border without documents.