Georgian ex-President Saakashvili offered vice-PM’s post in Ukraine

Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who served as Odessa governor and faces several charges in Georgia, has been offered the post of vice PM for reforms in Ukraine, the Ukrainian media has reported. 

Sakashvili has confirmed the information on his Facebook page, stating that the offer came from President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Saakashvili wrote that the offer is a big honor for him, adding that he has already had a ‘very informative and a good conversation’ with the Ukrainian PM on all the issues about his possible presence in the Ukrainian government. 

I am ready to cooperate with all patriotic forces in the Ukrainain parliament and all political forces in the county for Ukraine to overcome the coronavirus crisis with as less loss as possible,” Saakashvili said. 

Zelensky restored the Ukrainian citizenship to Saakashvili on May 28, 2019. 

Saakashvili served as the Odessa Governor in Ukraine between 2015 and 2016 and then went into the opposition of his former ally, now ex-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

On June 5,2019 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,” said that his Movement of New Forces faced difficulties to run in the July 21 parliamentary elections in Ukraine.

Poroshenko, a former ally, granted Ukrainian citizenship to Saakashvili in 2015.

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 (until May of 2019).