The messages are spray painted across the city, thousands of them, cursing Russian President Vladimir Putin and telling Russians to “go home.” Many restaurants and cafes, including the ones where Russians hang out, pointedly display signs declaring their support of Ukraine. A few even demand loyalty pledges, saying that Russians should enter only if they first condemn the invasion or denounce Putin as a dictator.
“We need to make sure that brainwashed Russian imperialists do not end up in our bar,” reads the declaration form at the Daedana bar.
For months now, hundreds of thousands of Russians have been spilling into nearby countries, seeking refuge from repression, to avoid the repercussions of broad Western sanctions, and, in the most recent waves, to escape the prospect of being called up to fight. Georgia is one of the most enticing destinations, known for its mild climate, its wine, its food, its nightlife-heavy capital and, crucial to the incoming Russians, its visa-free entry rules.
But Georgia is faced with an influx it did not seek and does not know how to handle.
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The former Soviet republic of 3.7 million people has spent much of its modern existence trying to disentangle itself from Moscow and draw closer to the West.
But wresting itself free has proved challenging. Russia launched an invasion here in 2008 — a “peace enforcement” operation that left lasting marks on Georgia and presaged the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine. Georgia’s government, after years of being vehemently anti-Moscow, now tries to avoid provoking the Kremlin.
Many Georgians say the recent months have been deflating, as they try to square how Russians could wage war in their country and 14 years later use it as a haven.
“We are super-pissed they would choose us as an escape route,” said Keto Urushadze, 23, who has her own memories of the war, being shaken awake by her family in the middle of the night, told to pack her bag as helicopters whirred.
The European Union countries bordering Russia have banned entry by most Russian travelers. Central Asian nations such as Kazakhstan remain open and welcoming. Among Russia’s neighbors, then, Georgia stands as the tense middle ground — a place where Russians get an automatic year-long stay at the cost of coming face-to-face with resentments.
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So many have come here that rents in Tbilisi have soared nearly 80 percent since last year.
Some of the newcomers say they’re uncomfortable speaking Russian and have downloaded Georgian language apps on their phones. Some say they seek out Russian-owned businesses, little enclaves where they can relax.
“It’s hard to be here,” said one Russian who had arrived three days earlier, sitting with his brother at a former Soviet factory remodeled into a co-working space with galleries, bars and a hostel. On the walls of a nearby courtyard with outdoor tables, one sign said, “Ukraine will prevail,” and another sought donations for Kyiv. The Russian brothers, who had fled in a rush after the mobilization drive was announced, said they left so much back home: a car, parents, a girlfriend for one of them, jobs for both.
“Our government made bloody hell,” one of them said, speaking quietly. “I understand how the Germans felt after World War II.”
While the first wave of Russians consisted heavily of intellectuals opposed to Putin, with some even joining anti-Kremlin protests in Tbilisi, Georgians suspect the newer wave is less ideological. Many Russians just don’t want to die in what they see as a bad war.
The Russian men fleeing mobilization, and leaving everything behind
Data Lapauri, 34, who co-owns the Daedana bar, says Russians shouldn’t get the privilege to opt out of the discomfort. Since April, the bar has required Russian patrons to check the boxes of a digital form acknowledging a long list of their government’s misdeeds. Lapauri said that over six months, 2,500 Russians have accepted the conditions and come in for the electronic dance music and drinks including homemade grape vodka. But just as many others, he said, have turned around and left.
In August, the bar’s website was hit with a denial-of-service attack as well as thousands of one-star Google reviews and death threats on its Instagram account. A month later, the bar received a visit from Ksenia Sobchak, a Russian socialite and TV anchor with millions of social media followers who has alternated between Putin supporter and critic. She confronted Lapauri at the entrance, asking him to defend the choice of “singling out Russians.”
Ksenia Sobchak, Russian star linked to Putin, fled using Israeli passport
Lapauri noted the outcome of the 2008 war, in which Georgia fully lost control of two Kremlin-aligned breakaway regions. “Because 20 percent of Georgia is occupied by Russia,” he said. “It all goes together.”
“But what does Ukraine have to do with Georgia?” she asked.
“Don’t you see the connection?” he said.
So much about Georgia’s relationship with Russia relates to that 2008 war and its painful aftermath.
It was Europe’s first war of the 21st century. The conflict had been building for years, and tensions flared after an April 2008 NATO summit where members pledged one to day include Ukraine and Georgia in the alliance. Putin’s interest in sending a warning to Georgia and the West collided with the Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s stated desire to retake two breakaway ethnic minority regions that are within Russia’s circle of influence. As Russia positioned itself to recognize and potentially annex those regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Saakashvili gave the order to launch strikes. Russia responded with force. Soon, Georgia was defending its capital.
Officially, the war ended after five days, with international mediation led by France. But the conflict continues, at a much lower volume.
Russia never took its troops out of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and, over the years, it has transformed them into sealed-off Kremlin protectorates that Russia designates as independent nations. In South Ossetia, Russia has built military bases and installed motion detectors, watchtowers and electronic phone jammers along the boundary line with the rest of Georgia. That border used to be porous, little more than open fields, with people from communities moving back and forth. Now there are 50 miles of razor wire marking a boundary that Russia has interpreted in its own favor, grabbing extra land here and there.
Where is South Ossetia, and why does it want to join Russia?
“Hybrid warfare,” said Marek Szczygiel, a Polish diplomat who leads an E.U. mission in Georgia that is designed to monitor the cease-fire agreement but is regularly denied access to South Ossetia.
He said Russia has been detaining Georgians who cross the boundary or get too close to it. Sometimes they are released quickly and sometimes they are locked up for years.
“We need to make sure that brainwashed Russian imperialists do not end up in our bar,” reads the declaration form at the Daedana bar.
For months now, hundreds of thousands of Russians have been spilling into nearby countries, seeking refuge from repression, to avoid the repercussions of broad Western sanctions, and, in the most recent waves, to escape the prospect of being called up to fight. Georgia is one of the most enticing destinations, known for its mild climate, its wine, its food, its nightlife-heavy capital and, crucial to the incoming Russians, its visa-free entry rules.
But Georgia is faced with an influx it did not seek and does not know how to handle.
How the E.U. has fallen short on promises to Ukrainian refugees
The former Soviet republic of 3.7 million people has spent much of its modern existence trying to disentangle itself from Moscow and draw closer to the West.
But wresting itself free has proved challenging. Russia launched an invasion here in 2008 — a “peace enforcement” operation that left lasting marks on Georgia and presaged the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine. Georgia’s government, after years of being vehemently anti-Moscow, now tries to avoid provoking the Kremlin.
Many Georgians say the recent months have been deflating, as they try to square how Russians could wage war in their country and 14 years later use it as a haven.
“We are super-pissed they would choose us as an escape route,” said Keto Urushadze, 23, who has her own memories of the war, being shaken awake by her family in the middle of the night, told to pack her bag as helicopters whirred.
The European Union countries bordering Russia have banned entry by most Russian travelers. Central Asian nations such as Kazakhstan remain open and welcoming. Among Russia’s neighbors, then, Georgia stands as the tense middle ground — a place where Russians get an automatic year-long stay at the cost of coming face-to-face with resentments.
Cyprus, a haven for Russian expats, welcomes techies fleeing Ukraine war
So many have come here that rents in Tbilisi have soared nearly 80 percent since last year.
Some of the newcomers say they’re uncomfortable speaking Russian and have downloaded Georgian language apps on their phones. Some say they seek out Russian-owned businesses, little enclaves where they can relax.
“It’s hard to be here,” said one Russian who had arrived three days earlier, sitting with his brother at a former Soviet factory remodeled into a co-working space with galleries, bars and a hostel. On the walls of a nearby courtyard with outdoor tables, one sign said, “Ukraine will prevail,” and another sought donations for Kyiv. The Russian brothers, who had fled in a rush after the mobilization drive was announced, said they left so much back home: a car, parents, a girlfriend for one of them, jobs for both.
“Our government made bloody hell,” one of them said, speaking quietly. “I understand how the Germans felt after World War II.”
While the first wave of Russians consisted heavily of intellectuals opposed to Putin, with some even joining anti-Kremlin protests in Tbilisi, Georgians suspect the newer wave is less ideological. Many Russians just don’t want to die in what they see as a bad war.
The Russian men fleeing mobilization, and leaving everything behind
Data Lapauri, 34, who co-owns the Daedana bar, says Russians shouldn’t get the privilege to opt out of the discomfort. Since April, the bar has required Russian patrons to check the boxes of a digital form acknowledging a long list of their government’s misdeeds. Lapauri said that over six months, 2,500 Russians have accepted the conditions and come in for the electronic dance music and drinks including homemade grape vodka. But just as many others, he said, have turned around and left.
In August, the bar’s website was hit with a denial-of-service attack as well as thousands of one-star Google reviews and death threats on its Instagram account. A month later, the bar received a visit from Ksenia Sobchak, a Russian socialite and TV anchor with millions of social media followers who has alternated between Putin supporter and critic. She confronted Lapauri at the entrance, asking him to defend the choice of “singling out Russians.”
Ksenia Sobchak, Russian star linked to Putin, fled using Israeli passport
Lapauri noted the outcome of the 2008 war, in which Georgia fully lost control of two Kremlin-aligned breakaway regions. “Because 20 percent of Georgia is occupied by Russia,” he said. “It all goes together.”
“But what does Ukraine have to do with Georgia?” she asked.
“Don’t you see the connection?” he said.
So much about Georgia’s relationship with Russia relates to that 2008 war and its painful aftermath.
It was Europe’s first war of the 21st century. The conflict had been building for years, and tensions flared after an April 2008 NATO summit where members pledged one to day include Ukraine and Georgia in the alliance. Putin’s interest in sending a warning to Georgia and the West collided with the Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s stated desire to retake two breakaway ethnic minority regions that are within Russia’s circle of influence. As Russia positioned itself to recognize and potentially annex those regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Saakashvili gave the order to launch strikes. Russia responded with force. Soon, Georgia was defending its capital.
Officially, the war ended after five days, with international mediation led by France. But the conflict continues, at a much lower volume.
Russia never took its troops out of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and, over the years, it has transformed them into sealed-off Kremlin protectorates that Russia designates as independent nations. In South Ossetia, Russia has built military bases and installed motion detectors, watchtowers and electronic phone jammers along the boundary line with the rest of Georgia. That border used to be porous, little more than open fields, with people from communities moving back and forth. Now there are 50 miles of razor wire marking a boundary that Russia has interpreted in its own favor, grabbing extra land here and there.
Where is South Ossetia, and why does it want to join Russia?
“Hybrid warfare,” said Marek Szczygiel, a Polish diplomat who leads an E.U. mission in Georgia that is designed to monitor the cease-fire agreement but is regularly denied access to South Ossetia.
He said Russia has been detaining Georgians who cross the boundary or get too close to it. Sometimes they are released quickly and sometimes they are locked up for years.
