TBILISI — As you walk the streets of Tbilisi, Russian speakers are everywhere. That’s not something Georgians are happy about, to put it mildly.
Even before President Vladimir Putin announced a mobilization of extra troops on September 21, Georgia was the second most popular destination (after Turkey) for Russian runaways; About 50,000 arrived in the Caucasian nation since Moscow launched its war against Ukraine. In late September, those inflows only accelerated, with kilometers-long queues of cars snaking toward the mountain-flanked Upper Lars border crossing.
For Georgians, the conflict in Ukraine revives painful flashbacks of their own experience of a Russian invasion in 2008. That means many have little sympathy for the new arrivals as they are widely suspected of still backing Putin’s war, but just not wanting to fight in it.
Graffiti, sprayed in black, on the wall of the Dedaena bar in Tbilisi proclaims: “Russian warship, go fuck yourself,” in homage to Ukrainian forces’ defiant refusal to surrender Snake Island in the Black Sea.
A QR code at the bar’s entrance redirects Russian visitors to a website, where they are asked to complete a “visa form” designed specifically for them. They won’t be allowed in for a drink unless they confirm that, among other things, they didn’t vote for Putin, that Russia occupied Georgian territories, that Crimea is Ukrainian, and that they wish glory to Ukraine.
Data Lapauri, founder of the Dedaena bar, said he didn’t think it was his responsibility to make Russians feel at home, adding the bar introduced “visas” because Russian visitors didn’t know how to behave themselves and disrespectfully demanded to be served in Russian and to pay in rubles.
“Many were aggressive, half of them refused to come in after seeing the list. But we need to know that the guests we serve are not our enemy, that they recognize our territorial integrity,” he said.
The “visas” caused an uproar among Russians and the bar received numerous online threats, including warnings that the establishment would be burned down due to its “discriminatory” policy.
Politics and prices
After Putin declared war, many Georgians flew the Ukrainian flag in solidarity. Some even hung the blue and yellow banner in residential elevators. There was an outpouring of fury when CCTV cameras showed that Russian citizens were secretly tearing them down.
Georgian frustration only grew when an allegedly Russian user in a popular Telegram channel asked — seemingly unironically! — whether it would be OK to cross the border with the pro-war “Z” symbol posted on the windshield. Another user warned: “There’s a good chance you’ll be punched in the face here because of such symbols.”
As soon as the mobilization was announced, more than 50,000 Russians came through the Upper Lars checkpoint within a week. Around 35,000 left Georgia in the same period.
For Georgians who oppose Russian influx, it’s not all about politics — it’s also a bread-and-butter issue that is spurring skyrocketing rents and soaring food prices.
Data Lapauri, founder of Dedaena bar, stands at the bar’s entrance. The writing on the wall reads “Russian warship, go fuck yourself” | Dato Parulava
Lasha Nonikashvili is one of many students forced to relocate because of spiraling rents. For a year and a half, he lived in an apartment close to his university and work, paying 750 lari (€280). But as Russians started to arrive, his landlord jacked up the rent.
“She demanded I pay 1,300 lari (€480), which she said was a discount for me because others paid more,” he said. Eventually, he had to move out and settle for an unfurnished apartment.
A recent study on Russia’s exodus suggested it was “young, educated and wealthy” Russians who fled the country when the war started. However, there is little information about the new arrivals who fled since Putin announced the mobilization. Many in Georgia are concerned that they will become an economic burden.
According to IDFI, a Tbilisi-based non-governmental organization, more than 60,000 Russian citizens have active bank accounts in Georgia. More than 45,000 of those were opened since the war started.
“They certainly played their part in contributing to inflation, as growing demand leads to soaring prices. On the other hand, they had a positive economic effect too. There is an economic growth that can be attributed to them, but this will be only temporary,” said Goga Tushurashvili, a head of research at IDFI.
Frontier frustrations
Georgia unilaterally abolished a visa regime with Russia in 2012 in an attempt to boost tourism, so Russians can enter with ease and stay in the country for up to a year.
Many Georgians, however, are now demanding this policy be revisited. Some say the visa regime must be reintroduced, while others want borders to be closed altogether.
A survey conducted in March for the Caucasus Research Resource Centers, an independent research organization, suggested that 66 percent of Georgians are in favor of introducing a visa regime for Russians. Several opposition groups have also urged the Georgian government to revise the visa-free policy but to no avail.
On September 7, around 200 Georgians gathered on Tbilisi’s central Rustaveli Avenue to demand the government close the border to Russians and encouraged crowds to step on Putin’s portrait. Many did so.
Ani Kavtaradze, who co-organized the demonstration said she was concerned about security as so many new arrivals are young Russian men eligible for military service. She sees them as people “who fled the regime only when they were personally affected — not before.”
“They should’ve stayed there and dealt with it. Had they done so, they wouldn’t need to escape now. This country, 20 percent of which they’ve occupied, shouldn’t become a shelter for them. I don’t feel a moral responsibility towards Russians but towards those whom they killed and who died defending us,” she said.
“Close the border,” reads the Georgian writing on the poster (left). “Fuck off,” reads the Russian writing (right) | Dato Parulava
One of the main hurdles for those who want a tougher visa regime is that Georgia’s government, run by the Georgian Dream party founded by former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, is seen as keeping tight with the Kremlin. It has denied access to Moscow’s critics.
This opens up the perverse situation where Putin’s many opponents find it harder to get into Georgia than nationalistic draft dodgers.
“We could’ve opened the border for those persecuted by Russia’s totalitarian regime or for those asking for asylum in line with international conventions. But quite the opposite is happening: The border is closed for political refugees, not for average draft dodgers or those who didn’t want to give up comfort and fled to avoid sanction,” said Irakli Khvadagiani, a historian.
Fighting Putin
That doesn’t mean all the Russians find Georgia inhospitable.
Znuk Zanuzok, a 35-year-year-old from Moscow, who decided to leave Russia to avoid the draft, certainly hasn’t felt badly treated. “Georgians are like kittens. They are so welcoming. When they express their discontent because of the past, they do it without aggression,” he said.
With no immediate plans for the future, he wants to get a job and earn some money in Tbilisi before he’s on the move again.
Other Russian citizens told POLITICO that Georgians needed to better understand that it’s nearly impossible to fight against Putin’s regime.
A 33-year-old LGBTQ+ activist, who asked not to be named, said Russia registered him as a foreign agent. He fled to Georgia when he was notified by the Russian prosecutors that they were investigating him on trumped-up charges.
“It’s so hard when you’re affiliated with an aggressor country, when you’re told that you’re doing nothing to stop it. I feel immense guilt knowing that I worked for 15 years to help people, tried to change something, and still — this is happening,” he said.
He understood why some Georgians demanded the closure of the border to Russians as many of his compatriots have never stood up against the regime. But, he said, there are also many who have done so in vain.
“If Georgia closes borders, I have nowhere to go. At least I can do something to help people from here. If I go to Russia, they will arrest me. I’d rather die because the worst thing that can happen to you is being in a Russian prison,” he said.
He added that many Russians who arrive know little about the local sensitivities and the history of Russian aggression against Georgia. “We are so thankful to Georgia because it allowed us to be safe, despite what Russia has done to Georgia,” he said.
Protesters demand the closure of Georgia’s border, but some Russian activists who have fled to Georgia fear they would have nowhere to go | Dato Parulava
Egor Eremeev is an IT specialist from Russia. He said he left his home country in 2021 after the Russian government started to crack down on the protest movement of Alexei Navalny, the opposition leader who was poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok in 2020 and is currently imprisoned.
When Russia attacked Ukraine, he was already in Tbilisi. He co-founded an organization called Helping to Leave which assists Ukrainians to evacuate to a safe place.
Having done his share of protesting in Russia, he argues the Russian people cannot be held responsible for not being able to stop Putin as they live in a dictatorship. He believes that the regime can only be challenged by the nomenklatura, an elite group of powerful people holding high positions.
“Russian people are prisoners. Unfortunately, the repression machine works well in Russia. I have been involved in protest movements since 2011 and protests only ended up in imprisonments,” he said. “If anybody can remove Putin it’s the nomenklatura, so we need to pressure the nomenklatura.”
