Interior Ministry: Saakashvili hasn’t crossed into Georgia, Ukraine also confirms

The Georgian Interior Ministry says that Saakashvili has not crossed the Georgian border and that Ukraine has also confirmed that the Georgian ex-president has not left the country. 

• Ex-president Saakashvili says he is already in Georgia, urges people to take to streets after elections

The ministry says that if Saakashvili crosses into Georgia, he will be arrested.

Saakashvili, who currently chairs the executive committee of the Ukrainian National Reforms Council as a citizen of Ukraine, released a live video allegedly from the Georgian coastal city of Batumi late last night and said that he is already in Georgia ahead of tomorrow’s municipal elections. 

• Ruling party head: Saakashvili’s Batumi video is fake, Saakashvili is a ‘clown’

In the video Saakashvili has urged the public to vote for the United National Movement (UNM) in the elections and if not the UNM, then for some other, smaller, ‘real opposition parties’ and not for the Georgian Dream ruling party (GD) or ex-PM Giorgi Gakharia’s For Georgia party. 

He said that he will not appear in public until election day is over and called on Georgians to take to the streets on October 3. 

Saakashvili, who faces a number of criminal charges in Georgia, said in the video that he has ‘put his life at risk’ by returning. 

The ruling Georgian Dream party says that Saakashvili’s Batumi video is ‘fake,’ while the UNM claims Saakashvili really returned and that he will appear in public tomorrow.