The city giving Russians ultimatum after they escape Putin’s Ukraine war draft

Tbilisi is the capital city of Georgia Georgians are turning up the heat on the thousands of Russians who relocated to their country after Vladimir Putin announced a general mobilisation at the end of September to beef up his country’s army fighting in Ukraine. The large group of Russians is finding an increasingly upset local population, expressing discontent through “crude” graffiti on walls and ultimatum messages on leaflets. The anti-Russian sentiment is particularly strong in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, which is believed to have become home to more than 110,000 people from the neighbouring country since Moscow ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Appearing on the BBC’s Global News podcast, journalist Vitaly Shevchenko said: “There is an extraordinary amount of extreme anti-Russian graffiti scrawled all over Tbilisi – and it is crude.” The correspondent said some of them read “Kill Russians”, and “Russians not welcomed here, good or bad”. Many Russians fled to Tbilisi to avoid being sent to fight in Ukraine Pictures from the Georgian capital also show even more expletive graffitis, with many reading “f*** Russia” while another said, misspelling the word Russia to refer to the Z symbol associated with the Ukraine conflict: “Ruzzia is a terrorist state.” The expert went on to explain: “Now, in wartime language, good Russians are the ones who don’t support President Putin’s ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine.” While in Tbilisi, it was difficult to escape thoughts and references to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he continued. Mr Shevchenko said: “Reminders of it are to be found in the most unusual of places, such as restaurants and bars. Anti-Russian graffiti on the streets of Tbilisi SUBSCRIBE Invalid email We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info “In one of them, I saw leaflets in Russian addressed to Russians, which said: ‘Every single Russian bears responsibility for this war. “‘While you are having fun here, your army [is] pillaging and raping in Ukraine. So if you couldn’t protest against this in Russia, do it here. If you don’t agree with it, you are not welcome here’.” Georgia has been chosen by many Russians as a refuge thanks to the use of their language being widespread, the fact it can be reached without needing to get on a plane and that it doesn’t require Russia’s nationals to apply for a visa. Trending