Russian Pussy Riot Member Borisova Refused Reentry To Georgia

Olga Borisova says Georgian police did not explain why they denied her entry.

A member of the Pussy Riot protest group, Olga Borisova, has been refused entry to Georgia, where she has been living since fleeing Russia, after she tried to return to the country from Turkey.

Borisova, a Russian national, tweeted late on June 20 that Georgian police gave no explanation for the decision to bar her from entering the country even though she now lives in the country and has an apartment in the capital, Tbilisi.

She added that she had instead been sent back to Istanbul, where she had traveled from.

Borisova and other members of Pussy Riot have openly protested Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea in 2014, and Moscow's unprovoked war against Ukraine, launched on February 24.

Georgia has been a destination for some of the estimated 300,000 Russians to flee their country since they can travel to the former Soviet republic without a visa.

Despite the visa-free regime, Georgia has recently refused entry to some Russian citizens.

Georgian officials have not commented on Borisova's case.

A blogger from Russia's Kabardino-Balkaria, Insa Lander, has been caught in a neutral zone between the Russian-Georgian border since June 12 after the Georgian authorities refused to allow her to enter the country.

Lander fled Russia seeking political asylum in Georgia after she was charged with participation in terrorist activities over a 2014 online chat she had with an acquaintance.

Lander rejects the charge as politically motivated and calls it retaliation by Kabardino-Balkaria's officials for her investigation of possible corruption in a local charity foundation.