Ukrainian FM says it ‘will support ex-president Saakashvili as he is a Ukrainian citizen’
Based on the information released by the Georgian Interior Ministry earlier today, Georgian law enforcers, the State Security Service and the General Prosecutor’s Office carried out a joint operation to detain ex-president Saakashvili. Photo: video grab.
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“The Foreign Ministry of Ukraine will support ex-president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili, since he is a citizen of Ukraine”, said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
Saakashvili returned to Georgia in the past few days, though the exact date of his arrival in the country remains unclear; his United National Movement party claims that he had arrived in late September.
The government meanwhile says he was detained and taken to Rustavi Detention Facility No. 5 on October 1, all of which took place within 24 hours of his arrival.
Kuleba said that a representative of the Georgian Embassy to Ukraine would go to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine on October 2 in order to discuss Saakashvili’s case with the ministry.
We [the government of Ukraine] protect every citizen of Ukraine when he or she gets in trouble”, Kuleba said in a comment to the Dom TV channel earlier today.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s advisor Mikhail Podolyak said earlier today that ‘the situation around the detention of Saakashvili is under the personal control of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Mikheil Saakashvili is a citizen of Ukraine and we [the Ukrainian government] must bring our citizen back”, said Podolyak.
Mikheil Saakashvili wrote on his Facebook page that he arrived in Georgia in the morning of October 1. In the evening of the same day, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili stated that ex-president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili, who returned from Ukraine to Georgia, had been detained and taken to Rustavi prison No. 5.
The Georgian Interior Ministry said today that the detention of Saakashvili, who is charged with several criminal offences, was planned in advance.
Based on the information released by the ministry earlier today, Georgian law enforcers, the State Security Service and the General Prosecutor’s Office carried out a joint operation to detain ex-president Saakashvili.