Russian Citizen Pardoned in Georgia Starts Hunger Strike Over Deportation Fears
By Messenger Staff
Monday, August 31, 2026
Denis Kulanin, a Russian citizen detained during protests in Georgia, has started a dry hunger strike at a migration detention center after Mikheil Kavelashvili pardoned him and Kulanin learned he could be deported to Russia, his friend Marina Meskhi told Radio Liberty.
Meskhi said Kulanin began the strike two days ago because he had not been told where he would be sent. She visited him on August 29 and said he appeared in worse condition than during a video call two days earlier.
"He told me that as soon as he was pardoned, he declared a dry hunger strike because he has no information about where he will be deported. He is afraid that he will be deported to Russia," Meskhi said.
Kulanin had signed a statement accepting a pardon in 2025 but was not pardoned at the time, Meskhi said.
His lawyer, Dimitri Nozadze, said Kulanin wants to leave for a third country and that friends have already bought him a ticket. The Migration Department, however, has not yet filed an application with the Tbilisi City Court, which must consider the matter.
"If a person declares that he will voluntarily leave the country and submits the relevant evidence, including a ticket, in accordance with the rules and regulations, the Migration Department should not object," Nozadze said.
The Interior Ministry said Kulanin can voluntarily leave Georgia for either Russia or a third country under Article 51 of the law on foreigners. The same provision allows authorities to deport foreign nationals who have served a sentence in Georgia after their release.
Nozadze said Kulanin could face danger in Russia because he had criticized the Russian government and its war in Ukraine and expressed support for Ukraine in letters from prison.
Kulanin was arrested on March 28, 2025, after being accused of breaking a police car window during a protest near parliament against Georgia's so-called Agents' Law. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years in prison.
Kavelashvili pardoned 226 people on August 27, including people convicted over the 2024 pro-European protests and demonstrations against the Agents' Law, as well as cases linked to events on October 4, 2025.
