Photojournalist Vasily Krestyaninov, who works for The Associated Press and The Insider, was not allowed into Georgia.
Krestyaninov was returning to Tbilisi, where he has been living since November 2021, from the Free Russia Congress in Vilnius with a change in Yerevan. At the Tbilisi airport, Krestyaninov himself told The Insider, he was not asked any questions. A border guard "defiantly photographed" his passport and sent the photograph to his superiors.
An hour later, a police officer approached the journalist and said that he needed to get back on the plane to Yerevan. He did not explain the reasons for the refusal and handed over Krestyaninov's passport to the senior flight attendant. Krestyaninov "by a miracle" was able to get a document from him, which indicated the reason for the refusal, and found out that he was not allowed into Georgia "for other reasons." In Yerevan, the document was taken away by the border guards.
Krestyaninov is not allowed into Georgia for the second time in a row. He received his first refusal on August 23, when he was returning to Tbilisi from Turkey. Then the border guards also did not let the journalist in without giving reasons.
Krestyaninov himself attributes both refusals to pressure for his activities. As a stringer, he collaborates with various independent publications and covers political events in different countries. In November 2021, he emigrated to Georgia after the FSB tried to recruit him.