Rental prices in Georgia and Armenia rose 20–30% year on year over the summer as Russians fearing another wave of mobilisation sought accommodation abroad. Meanwhile, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen urged all 27 EU leaders to expand Frontex’s powers and increase deportations. People moving to avoid war and mobilisation face one set of rules; Brussels is preparing tougher ones for people arriving at the Union’s borders.
Moving to Find Somewhere to Stay
In Yerevan, monthly rent for a two-room flat reached €800–900 in August, up 23.5% from a year earlier. Armenia’s average nominal monthly wage is 320,763 dram (€790). Russians and Armenians who had lived in Russia and are seeking to avoid mobilisation are concentrating mainly in the city. Russian citizens can enter Armenia without a visa and stay for up to 180 days per year.
Tenants typically pay a 10% tax when lease contracts are registered with Armenia’s Cadastre. The Cadastre Committee reported that average flat prices in Yerevan apartment blocks rose 2.9% in August from July. Russian nationals account for around 72% of property transactions by foreign nationals in Armenia. In August, foreign citizens took part in 506 purchase-and-sale transactions nationwide, 7.6% of all deals; 70.2% of those purchases—177 properties—were in Yerevan.
Georgia allows Russian citizens visa-free stays of up to 360 days, with the period reset by a brief visit to a neighbouring country. Tens of thousands of Russians now live there. Standard housing in Tbilisi starts at €450–730 a month, while larger or higher-end apartments cost €910–2,700 or more. Georgia’s average nominal monthly wage is around 2,165 lari, roughly €750.
Rents in Georgia fell after a summer peak and broadly stabilised. The steepest increases came in 2022–2023, when rents jumped 60–70% following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Russians accounted for more than 55% of foreign-buyer property transactions in 2023, but their share has since fallen by a third. In 2026, Georgians made up 76% of transactions in Tbilisi’s primary housing market, according to investment bank Galt & Taggart; Israeli buyers accounted for 11% and Russians 3%. Batumi has more varied demand.
Brussels Writes the Border Rules
Von der Leyen’s letter called for an emergency response framework for cases in which migration has been weaponized, expanded powers for Frontex, and a higher deportation rate. She sent it after a migration crisis in the Spanish exclave of Ceuta over the summer, when around 70,000 migrants arrived from Morocco. The Commission president wrote: “We must prevent such threats and make clear that we will never compromise the protection of our external borders: no state or non-state actor will be allowed to exploit our rules or our values to destabilise the Union.”
The letter was meant to inform a migration discussion scheduled for Friday, the second day of the European Council summit. The proposed answer is more authority for the EU border agency and more removals. The people affected by those decisions don’t appear in the letter’s quoted demand for protecting external borders; the machinery of enforcement does.
Routes, Permits and Prices
Belarus has drawn Russians since Moscow’s all-out war began, first as a transit point and later as somewhere to stay. After partial mobilisation was announced in September 2022, demand for short- and medium-term rentals in Minsk and border cities such as Brest and Gomel surged sharply. European borders closed to Russians and sanctions tightened, drawing longer-term residents and property buyers to Belarus. Russian citizens can stay without registration for up to 90 days; a long-term rental contract qualifies them for a temporary residence permit.
Russian buyers now account for more than 10% of property transactions in Belarus, up from 2% a year earlier, according to the National Cadastral Agency. Demand among Russians for residential property in Minsk rose 10–15% in 2026, and the city’s housing price per square metre increased 25.6% over the year. The figures chart people navigating different visa rules, registration requirements and housing markets. Brussels, meanwhile, is asking governments to make the Union’s external border harder to cross and deportations more frequent.