Georgia, Ukraine Presidents meet in Kiev

Georgia’s President Giorgi Margvelashvili has voiced his full support and solidarity with Ukraine after participating in the "March of Dignity” and meeting his Ukrainian counterpart in Kiev.

The Georgian official and other European leaders took part in the "March of Dignity” yesterday - a special event dedicated to the victims of the Maidan protests in Kiev, Ukraine. Following this, the Georgian President held face-to-face and broader meetings with Ukraine’s president Petro Poroshenko.

After discussing the current situation in the region, Margvelashvili invited Poroshenko to Georgia, to which the Ukrainian responded: "[I will] certainly visit Georgia as soon as circumstances allow”.

Bilateral relations and corresponding issues was the main topic of the meeting between Margvelashvili and Poroshenko, and the significance of the Dignity March was also stressed.

"We are happy to see Ukraine united and its friends having joined the rally to protect the values Ukraine aspires to. It was an impressive day not only for Ukraine, but for all those taking part in the march,” Margvelashvili said.

Poroshenko said he "greatly appreciated” Georgia’s participation in the Kiev events.

The two presidents also discussed the situation in eastern Ukraine as well as in Georgia’s Russian-occupied regions, Tskhinvali and Abkhazia. 

The men stressed the importance of "standing together” and sharing their European aspirations.

March of Dignity in Kiev; Photo by President Margvelashvili's press office

The March of Dignity was held in central Kiev yesterday and attended by world leaders and officials, including European Council president Donald Tusk and the presidents of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Germany and Slovakia. The event was held on the first anniversary of the Maidan protests and was held to commemorate those who lost their lives in the protest.

In February 2014, violent clashes between protesters and law enforcement officials broke out in central Kiev's Independence Square, or Maidan Nezalezhnosti. Several weeks of unrest claimed the lives of about 100 civilians and 20 police officers.

Four months earlier, in November 2013, a political crisis erupted in Ukraine when the country's authorities announced to suspend its European integration process. The protests that started in Kiev spread across the country and led to a government coup in February, forcing then-president Viktor Yanukovych to flee the country.