Ukrainian president says he has “no political plans’ with ex Georgian president Saakashvili

Newly elected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says that he has “no political plans” with former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili after reinstating his Ukrainian citizenship on May 28.

Zelensky told currenttime.tv that his plans with Saakashvili “were very simple, only humane,” making the decision he did only as he believed that his citizenship had been annulled illegally.

Saakashvili, who returned to Ukraine on the second day after the restoration of his citizenship “to help Zelensky fulfil his election promises,” says that his Movement of New Forces face difficulties to run in the July 21 parliamentary elections in Ukraine.

Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko and former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. 

Responding to this, Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko invited Saakashvili to become a chairman of his UDAR Party to participate in the elections.

Saakashvili praised Klitschko and requested help from his supporters in making the decision.

If I accept the offer, we will have to wholly change the UDAR party as there are many people who were loyal to Petro Poroshenko [ex-President of Ukraine, Saakashvili’s former ally] and several others involved in corruption,” Saakashvili said.

He said in his video address today that “it is not good to observe the situation passively, when Zelensky needs help.”

Zelensky, who received kind wishes from Georgia on his election, has confirmed his short meeting with Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze yesterday in Brussels.

Poroshenko and Saakashvili once were close allies. Photo: politiko.

He told Georgian Imedi TV that Bakhtadze is a “very good person” and that they exchanged phone numbers.

Read more about Saakashvili here:

• Ukraine’s president Petro Poroshenko appointed Saakashvili as the Odessa Governor in May 2015, but in November 2016 the Georgian ex-President quit the post, accusing Poroshenko of corruption.
• Saakashvili, who served as Georgia’s third president from 2004 to 2007 and again from 2008 to 2013, announced his resignation as Odessa governor at a special press conference on November 7, 2016.
• Saakashvili then said despite his resignation, he would continue his fight against corruption in Ukraine along with "young and honest forces”.
• In 2014 Saakashvili was officially charged for his role in several crimes in Georgia however by the time his case went through court he was already in Ukraine.
• Saakashvili is accused of the violent dispersal of anti-government mass protests on November 7, 2007; unlawful raiding of Imedi television company by riot police and the illegal take-over of property owned by late media tycoon Badri (Arkadi) Patarkatsishvili.
• Prior to his appointment as the Governor of Odessa, Saakashvili received Ukrainian citizenship.
• Receiving Ukrainian citizenship meant Saakashvili’s Georgian citizenship was automatically revoked.
• In July 2017  Poroshenko issued a decree to annul Ukrainian citizenship for Saakashvili and since then the former president had had no citizenship.