Radio Liberty: Two Ukrainian citizens detained during protest in Batumi

The number of Ukrainian citizens detained during a protest against the arrival of the cruise ship Astoria Grande has increased in Batumi, Georgia.

This was reported by the RFE/RL's Georgian Service with reference to lawyers.

The Georgian Young Lawyers' Association, representing one of the detainees, said that it was a Ukrainian citizen, Dmytro Zakrevskyi.

His whereabouts are currently unknown.

The head of the Adjara branch of the Georgian Young Lawyers' Association, Taco Tsulukidze, explains that the fact that the detainee is a citizen of Ukraine does not legally change anything, although "the fact itself is unacceptable, as in all other cases of detention that violate the freedom of expression".

As noted, Zakrevskyi is the second Ukrainian citizen to be detained at the protest on July 31.

Before that, it was reported about the detention of Ukrainian Marina Chobanian.

Later, it was reported that Ukrainian Dmytro Zakrevskyi was released. This was announced by the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Oleh Nikolenko, to the Ukrinform media outlet.

The Embassy of Ukraine in Georgia is already handling the situation of the detained Ukrainian Marina Chobanian.

As a reminder, on July 31, the Russian cruise ship Astoria Grande arrived in the port of Batumi, Georgia. This is the second arrival of the ship. Among the passengers of the ship are employees of the RU.TV TV channel who support Russia's war against Ukraine.