Record crowds are crossing the Russia–Georgia border at Verkhny Lars. Here’s what the numbers actually show.

“Record passenger traffic at Verkhny Lars: more than 20,000 passengers crossed the checkpoint in a single day. Heavy tourist traffic has brought with it a record number of passenger cars. […] The same trend has held for several days now: on August 15 and 16, more than 19,000 people passed through the checkpoint each day. Current figures significantly exceed those for comparable periods in previous years,” Russia’s Federal Customs Service said on the evening of August 18.