The Tbilisi City Court allowed Russian citizen Denis Kulanin to leave Georgia voluntarily, giving him seven days to do so, according to the human rights organization Rights Georgia, as reported by Paper Kartuli.
Kulanin was detained in March 2025 and later sentenced to two years in prison for damaging a police car during protests against the ruling Georgian Dream party. He was pardoned in late August 2026.
After the pardon, Kulanin's supporters bought him a ticket to Yerevan for September 1, but he was unable to leave Georgia: the migration service barred his departure pending a court ruling on his expulsion and placed him in a temporary detention center for foreigners. Rights activists feared Kulanin would be forcibly sent to Russia. The migration department ultimately asked the court to expel him "to his country of origin," but requested seven days for voluntary departure, including to a third country. The court granted the motion.
According to the human rights project APUS, Kulanin was a volunteer for Alexei Navalny's campaign headquarters in Rostov-on-Don, opposed Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and criticized Russian authorities. His lawyer Tsiala Ratiani said that if he returned to Russia, he could face persecution.
On September 1, a protest was held outside Georgia's migration department in Tbilisi demanding that Kulanin be allowed to leave independently for a third country. Kulanin himself, while awaiting the expulsion ruling, said he was being "tried to be thrown out to Russia."