Forced Deportation of Ukrainians to Georgia by Russia

The phenomenon of deportation has long stood at the crossroads of violence, law, and politics. In the contemporary context of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, forced transfers of civilians—including the specific practice of deporting Ukrainians into or through Georgia—have emerged as a stark reminder of how population displacement can serve as an instrument of state power.

Deportation is not an accidental by-product of conflict but a deliberate policy aimed at transforming demographics, controlling contested territories, and exerting pressure on neighbouring states. The events unfolding since 2022 illustrate that Russia has refined and adapted a historical repertoire of coercive displacement that stretches from the imperial and Soviet eras to the present day.

The deportations of Ukrainians into Georgia are particularly significant for three reasons. First, they constitute an unlawful practice under international humanitarian law, most notably Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the forcible transfer or deportation of protected persons from occupied territory. Second, they create acute humanitarian dilemmas for the Georgian state, which has been compelled to manage stranded deportees in conditions that have repeatedly attracted international criticism, raising questions under the European Convention on Human Rights. Third, they reveal the political calculus of Russia: deportation operates not only as a means of punishing or neutralising populations deemed “unreliable,” but also as a tool of hybrid warfare, destabilising neighbouring states, straining bilateral relations, and undermining collective solidarity with Ukraine.

These deportations are not isolated incidents. They must be understood against the backdrop of Russia’s repeated use of forced displacement as a method of governance and domination. From the expulsion of Circassians in the nineteenth century, to Stalin’s wartime deportations of entire peoples, to the “filtration” of civilians during the Chechen wars, Russia has consistently deployed forced movement as a weapon of control. The same logic reappears today: deportations from Ukraine’s occupied territories into Russia or onward to Georgia are part of a systematic strategy to reshape space, disempower populations, and secure Moscow’s political objectives.

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