Paper found in a search can become evidence: keep it carefully.
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Russian or Belarusian in Georgia
Draft: not yet checked by a lawyer
The guides below are drafts: a lawyer has not reviewed them yet. This is not legal advice.
Draft What human rights defenders advise
Russian or Belarusian in Georgia
- Visa-free stays of up to 365 days. Agencies and law firms report that since 2026 insurance for the whole stay is required at entry; check. Leaving to 'reset' your stay can end in an unexplained entry refusal; a residence permit is safer.
- Foreigners joining protests face fines of up to 5,000 lari, up to 60 days' detention and expulsion with an entry ban of up to 3 years. Russian Denis Kulanin was nearly deported to Russia after being pardoned.
- Since 2026 Georgia has again been extraditing people to Russia on 'ordinary' criminal charges. If you are wanted, lawyers advise finding counsel early and gathering evidence the case is political.
- If detained, ask for an interpreter and a lawyer and tell your family. Where to turn: The Ark (Kovcheg), the Transparency International Georgia legal centre (its parent, Transparency International, is 'undesirable' in Russia: if you travel to Russia, contacting it could become grounds for a case).
- In Georgia, Interpol cancelling a red notice is no protection: on 4 September 2026 Tbilisi City Court approved the extradition to Russia of a Russian citizen, a former aide to Sergei Furgal, although Interpol had cancelled the notice in September 2025. On 29 September the UN Human Rights Committee barred his extradition while it considers his complaint; on 2 October he was released on GEL 50,000 bail.
- Belarusians are being expelled too: in September 2026 a political émigré who had waited five years for asylum in Georgia was taken to the Armenian border, detained in Armenia at Belarus's request and then released. He says he signed papers he did not understand; Georgia's Interior Ministry denies this.
current as of 7 October 2026.
More: Amnesty: the case of Denis Kulanin; NewsGeorgia: extraditions to Russia resume; JAMnews: who is barred from entering Georgia; SOVA: Georgian Interior Ministry on Lev Mikheyev's expulsion (26.09.2026); Novaya Gazeta Europe: Georgian court approves Mikhail Timofeev's extradition (05.09.2026, in Russian) (undesirable); SOVA: Armenia releases Belarusian activist expelled from Georgia (26.09.2026); Georgia Today: Timofeyev released on bail, UN committee interim measure (02.10.2026)
Who helps
2 organisations
Free legal consultations at its legal centres in Tbilisi, Kutaisi, Batumi and Zugdidi; monitors the prosecution of protesters and NGOs.
The legal centre advises members of the public; ask whether they take foreigners' cases. The parent organisation, Transparency International, has been 'undesirable' in Russia since March 2023: if you travel to Russia, contacting it could become grounds for a case.
Other ways to reach them: +995 322 921403 · info@transparency.ge (a call stays in the phone log and with the operator)
Georgia
checked against its site 26 September 2026
Legal advice for people who have left (documents, residence permits, visas, asylum, extradition risk), temporary housing, free psychologists, mutual-aid chats by city.
Lawyers via the Telegram bots @kovcheglive_bot and @EmigrantHelpBot; psychologists and housing via forms on the website. Psychologists: 4-week online groups; waiting time from a few days to weeks. The Ark itself is a 'foreign agent'. The project was set up with support from the Anti-War Committee, designated 'terrorist' in Russia since March 2026. The Kovcheg website footer links to the Anti-War Committee: do not follow that link or subscribe to its channels from a device that could be checked.
Other ways to reach them: team@kovcheg.live