Ex Georgian pres. Saakashvili to be appointed Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister

Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili is set to be appointed Deputy PM of Ukraine.

Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia has responded to the news saying Tbilisi will ;respond appropriately’ to the appointment of the ex-president of the country Mikhail as deputy prime minister of Ukraine.

“We have not yet recalled our ambassador, but we can recall [him] at least for consultations if Saakashvili is appointed deputy PM in Kyiv,” Gakharia said.

The ex-president of Georgia, the former governor of the Odessa region, Mikheil Saakashvili, who now lives in Ukraine, received an offer from President Volodymyr Zelensky to work as deputy prime minister for reforms.

“The Ukrainian people are a fraternal people, Ukraine is our strategic partner, and no political situation will change that. However, the appointment of a person as a deputy prime minister convicted in absentia of serious crimes in Georgia, who is also on the wanted list, is categorically unacceptable to us,” Giorgi Gakharia said.

He also recalled the form in which Saakashvili was expelled from Ukraine under President Petro Poroshenko:

“It’s also unacceptable for me when the president of my country forces the police to drag him out of some Ukrainian restaurant,” Gakharia said.

The possible appointment of Saakashvili as Deputy Prime Minister was also commented on by the Chairman of the Georgian Parliament Archil Talakvadze. According to him, the appointment of Saakashvili to a high position in Ukraine will damage the Ukrainian-Georgian political relations.

“For this is an incomprehensible and unacceptable step,” said Talakvadze.

● Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakavshvili received the Ukrainian citizenship in 2015 by decision of President Petro Poroshenko. Then he was appointed governor of the Odessa region.

● At the end of 2016, Saakashvili resigned from his post as governor and accused President Poroshenko of corruption and unwillingness to implement reforms. Then he announced the transition to the opposition and the creation of his party.

● In July 2017, when Saakashvili was abroad, Petro Poroshenko deprived him of Ukrainian citizenship.

● In September 2017, Saakashvili, who was left without a passport, with the help of supporters broke through the Polish-Ukrainian border.

● In October 2017, Saakashvili, with like-minded people, launched actions in the center of Kiev demanding the resignation of Poroshenko.

● In December 2017, the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office charged Saakashvili with supporting an organization that was detrimental to the state interests of Ukraine. The prosecutor’s office accused Saakashvili of receiving money from Russia with close associates of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to organize protests.

● In December 2017, after several unsuccessful attempts, Mikheil Saakashvili was still arrested, but the court released him the next day.

● In February 2018, Saakashvili was once again arrested by an aquatic from Kiev restaurants and deported to Poland.

● Prior to the return of Ukrainian citizenship, Saakashvili did not have any citizenship – on the day he received the Ukrainian passport, Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili deprived him of Georgian citizenship.

● The ex-president of Georgia, the leader of the Ukrainian party “Right Rights Movement”, Mikhail Saakashvili, returned to Ukraine in May 2019, after the new president, Vladimir Zelensky, reinstated him as a citizen of Ukraine.

● Saakashvili has not been able to come to Georgia for 7 years. Criminal proceedings were instituted against him in four episodes – abuse of power; the suppression of a peaceful rally and the defeat of the Imedi TV channel; beating a member of parliament; misuse of budget funds.