Georgia’s ambassador to Ukraine expected to leave Kyiv today amid controversies over ex-Pres. Saakashvili

Giorgi Zakarashvili, the Georgian ambassador to Ukraine, on Thursday said he had time until the end of the day to leave Kyiv for “consultations” over Georgia’s currently imprisoned former president Mikheil Saakashvili’s extradition. 

 

Following Saakashvili’s online engagement in a trial hearing on Monday and lifting his shirt to show protruding ribs, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Tbilisi of “killing”the former president, who currently holds Ukrainian citizenship, on “Moscow’s instructions”, and instructed his foreign office to summon Zakarashvili and send him back to Tbilisi within 48 hours for consultations over extradition. 

 

“The countdown started after my meeting at the foreign office on Tuesday. I will try my best to leave the territory of Ukraine before 12:00 on Thursday. As you know, from Kyiv to the border, there is no other means of transport, except for a car or a train, therefore, this is connected with considerable difficulties”, Zakarashvili told Rustavi 2 TV channel. 

 

In his comments following the meeting with Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Yevhen Perebyinis, the Georgian diplomat said he had explained to the Ukrainian side that their concerns over Saakashvili were “misguided”, and that the May ruling by the European Court of Human Rights, which rejected Saakashvilki’s transfer abroad on health grounds, had “confirmed” the allegations on his ill-treatment while in custody were “ungrounded”. 

 

Ilia Darchiashvili, the Georgian foreign minister, on Wednesday called Zelenskyy’s demands “incomprehensible and groundless”, but added Tbilisi would continue to support Ukraine. 

 

Claiming Saakashvili had been engaged in “self-harm” since his detention in October 2021 to facilitate his “illegal release” from prison, Irakli Kobakhidze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, said Kyiv’s position on the issue was “insulting”, adding the Georgian government wished to maintain a “one-sided friendship” with Ukraine. 

 

Saakashvili, who chaired the executive committee of the Ukrainian national reforms council, was arrested in Tbilisi on his clandestine return after eight years and is now serving his six-year-term for abuse of power while in office in two separate cases, while three other cases involving him are still pending.