Less than a kilometer in ten days: hundreds of truckers stuck on the border of Russia and Georgia

More than 500 trucks have been idle for weeks on the Russian-Georgian border at the Upper Lars checkpoint.

As the stuck truckers told RT, a traffic jam formed both on Russian and Georgian territory.

According to drivers, some trucks have been waiting for their turn for a month.

People are forced to wait in trucks without the opportunity to wash, sleep well and hide from the forty-degree heat.

Russian drivers who are stuck on Georgian territory are also unable to buy food or water: their cards do not work abroad.

"People are losing consciousness because of the heat"

Andrey Novikov is a truck driver from Russia, works for the transport company Girteka.

The man was traveling to Russia from Armenia through Georgia, where he had to load cognac for transportation.

According to him, only trucks with Russian, Belarusian and Armenian license plates stand in the many-kilometer queue that has gathered at the state border - they are sent to the old Tbilisi bypass road, where the cars stand idle for weeks.

So, Novikov himself has been standing at the border for ten days.

Trucks with other numbers are allowed by Georgian border guards without any problems, the interlocutor says.

“We see from the application that only trucks from Georgia, Turkey, Ukraine go across the border to Russia.

They are not even stopped, they do not really check the documents.

And when they see other numbers, they immediately drive them here, to the bypass.

Drivers have already approached the local police many times, they tell us: you, they say, take and hang Ukrainian flags on cars, and we will let you through.

Such is the conversation going on, ”Andrey is indignant.

The driver emphasizes that such serious problems with queues at the Russian-Georgian border appeared a few months ago - with the start of a special military operation in Ukraine.

When Novikov traveled through Georgia to Armenia, he also stood at the border for about ten days, but now the situation has worsened.

The interlocutor of RT emphasized that people at the beginning of the traffic jam have been standing at the checkpoint for about 30 days.

Drivers do not have food, water, they cannot buy groceries: their bank cards do not work abroad.

There are no toilets, showers, nowhere to throw garbage on the road.

Sometimes local residents try to help truckers stuck on the outskirts of Georgia.

“I contacted via Telegram with people who promised to bring at least water by the evening, but we don’t know for sure whether they will succeed or not.

There is a small village nearby, the locals will also try to help, but the people in the queue are still in appalling conditions,” the Russian sighs.

Andrei said that on the eve of the drivers had to call an ambulance right on the track - people feel bad because of the intense heat.

“It was hot here at 40 ° C, cars heat up to 60 ° C during the day, people lose consciousness, some of them lost their legs,” Novikov describes the situation.

“The police behave very aggressively towards drivers, they shout at us, yell at us, intimidate us.

Those who try to bypass the traffic jam without a queue are issued huge fines, one thousand lari each (about 20 thousand rubles. -

)”.

None of the drivers know when trucks will start to pass and the traffic jam will clear - the police don't talk about it, he adds.

Vladimir (not his real name) is Andrei Novikov's colleague from Belarus.

He, too, has been standing on the border of the Russian Federation with Georgia for more than ten days.

The man said that, according to rumors, some drivers were allegedly offered to give a bribe to skip the line, but no money was demanded from Vladimir himself.

“Personally, no one told me that you can pay someone to drive faster.

If they had told me, I think it would have been easier to give money and drive away than to wait so long.

I have friends here.

They say that in the last 10-11 days we have traveled only 800 m. We are now 3.5 km from the border on the old bypass road, behind us another kilometer and a half - solid trucks.

I don't know how long we've been stuck here.

Probably for two weeks for sure, or even three, ”says the interlocutor of RT.

• © From the personal archive of Andrey Novikov

According to him, the drivers who are in the queue carry mostly wine.

The man has not yet met truckers with perishable goods, but in thematic publics on social networks they write about situations when vans loaded with frozen fish and other similar products are not allowed to cross the border, Vladimir says.

“What are we doing now in this traffic jam?

We all sit together, there is nothing else to do.

We sometimes cook what we have.

We share as much as possible,” the driver explains.

"Freight traffic has increased tenfold"

At the same time, the experts with whom RT spoke are sure that the reason for such serious traffic jams at the checkpoint is not at all the Russophobia of the Georgian border guards.

The fact is that after anti-Russian sanctions, many logistics routes were actually blocked.

In this regard, Georgia has now become the main transit territory through which cargo flows both to and from Russia.

“Due to the fact that roads from Europe have been cut off, Georgia has become the main transit territory.

According to our estimates, cargo traffic through this country has increased at least tenfold.

That is, before traffic jams were not so noticeable, but now the problem has become serious, ”Sergey Vladimirov, chairman of the Association of Russian Carriers, explained to RT.

According to him, traffic along the Georgian Military Highway is regularly hindered due to natural disasters: during heavy rains, mudflows and rockfalls, the road is partially, and sometimes completely blocked.

So, on June 27, the Russian Emergencies Ministry banned traffic on the highway for all vehicles, when the Terek River flooded in the region due to heavy rainfall.

As a result, the roadway was blurred: on the video published on the network, it was seen how the waters of the river carried away pieces of asphalt mixed with rock.

“The road was washed out very seriously, it actually doesn’t exist, so cars are still allowed to pass there in very small groups.

Moreover, it is even more difficult for trucks to pass, so they stand for a very long time, - Sergey Vladimirov explains.

“The problem with mudflows occurs regularly, but now it is aggravated by the fact that the load on this highway has seriously increased.”

The interlocutor refuted the drivers' information that the Georgian border guards allegedly intentionally do not let trucks with Russian, Belarusian and Armenian numbers pass.

“We didn’t hear anything like that, just yesterday we talked with colleagues who are standing there.

Pass only passenger cars,” he added.

Zurab Shvelidze, an expert on the organization of international freight transportation by road, noted that serious traffic jams formed at the checkpoint on both sides.

The other day he himself was on the "Upper Lars" to analyze the situation.

“This traffic jam formed three months ago.

There were episodes when more than 3 thousand cars stood on both sides!

Now the situation on the Russian side is better than on the Georgian side.

Even before the Tbilisi bypass road, there are cars that have not moved for ten days, they have not even advanced a kilometer.

They just stand still, ”says the interlocutor of RT.

He also agrees that the main reason for such serious traffic jams is that in recent months the transit traffic has increased, and the Upper Lars checkpoint is not adapted to receive such a large number of cars.

Upper Lars is the only operating land border crossing on the border with Georgia and one of the busiest border crossings in Russia.

Now on Russian territory, in parallel with the passage of cars, the reconstruction of the checkpoint, which the authorities began in the winter of 2021, is underway.

As a result, they plan to increase the number of traffic lanes and the number of accumulative parking lots, as well as to separate the flows of freight and passenger transport.

By the way, the load on the checkpoint becomes even greater with the onset of winter: during this period, due to worsening weather conditions, the road is blocked several times a week.

Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Transport and Development of Transport Infrastructure Yevgeny Moskvichev believes that the reconstruction of the checkpoint will help to cope with huge traffic jams.

“The work is supervised by the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation.

Until September 15, it must complete the reconstruction of the "Upper Lars" from the Russian side.

After that, throughput will increase.

I believe that, first of all, it is necessary to complete the reconstruction, restore order, and then meet with Georgia and discuss the situation on the road and ways to completely solve the problem, ”summed up the deputy in an interview with RT.