Mikheil Saakashvili has crossed into the country in a magical way. Both his passports Ukrainian ad Georgian, are not valid, but Georgia’s ex-president and one-time regional governor in Ukraine, ‘forces entry’ to Ukrainian side.
Mr Saakashvili is a stateless person, the return to Ukraine a certain carries risk for Saakashvili, but he said he has ‘thousands of supporters’. No need to forget that home country, Georgia, accused Saakashvili of abuse of power and misappropriation of property, now it has sent an extradition request for him to Ukraine.
In other words, the unexpected appearance of this stateless person in the Ukraine brings nothing positive but problems. So far, it is not clear if Ukraine authorities intend to honour Georgia’s extradition request.
Saakashvili assures that his illegal returning to Ukraine was realized with the help of ‘hundreds of his supporters’, and Ukrainian officials say this stateless person entered the country illegally, and 16 border guards and National guardsmen were injured.
Mikheil Saakashvili, his life in Georgia and Ukraine
The return of the divisive and headstrong Saakashvili, who became governor of Ukraine’s Odessa region after being Georgian president from 2004-13, poses a strong challenge to Ukrainian Petro Poroshenko, who once was Saakashvili’s patron but then revoked his citizenship in July.
Saakashvili was appointed to the Odessa post in 2015 on the strength of his record of fighting corruption in Georgia. However, he resigned the post after only 18 months, complaining that official corruption in Ukraine was so entrenched he could not work effectively.
being illegally entered into Ukraine on Sunday, Saakashvili wasn’t alone. His train was held at a railway station in Przemysl, Poland, as Ukrainian border guards denied him entry.
Ex-president of Georgia was joined by a number of his supporters, including former Ukrainian Prime Minister and current opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko.
In the evening, Saakashvili and others arrived in Lviv, western Ukraine’s largest city.
