An attempt to enter Georgia and request political asylum for Russian activist and head of the non-governmental organization Frame Maxim Ivantsov was unsuccessful. He linked the actions of the Georgian authorities with the collection of signatures in support of the nomination of Boris Nadezhdin as a presidential candidate in Russia.
“They didn’t let me in because we had previously provided a place in Tbilisi to collect votes for Boris Nadezhdin. It has long been noticeable that the Georgian government reacts painfully not only to public statements about its policies, but also to Russian opposition activists,” Ivantsov said on the Formula television company. He noted that he was forced to fly to Hungary.
According to Ivantsov, after requesting political asylum in Georgia, border guards began to threaten him that they would send him to Moscow. “They told me that I am an enemy of Russia and Georgia. I will try to enter Georgia again and appeal both the decision itself and the treatment I received, and I will go to the ECHR,” he added.
Earlier, the director of the human rights organization Free Russia Foundation in the South Caucasus, Egor Kuroptev, reported that cases of refusal to re-enter Georgia for Russian political activists and human rights defenders living in this country since the beginning of the “SVO” are causing increasing concern.
