Georgia, Ukraine have common enemy, it’s important for them to stand together – US ambassador


Author
Front News Georgia
Georgia and Ukraine have a common enemy and it is important that they stand together and not oppose each other,” US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan said on Tuesday in comments on controversies related to Georgia’s currently imprisoned former president Mikheil Saakashvili.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday accused Tbilisi of “killing” Saakashvili, who currently holds Ukrainian citizenship, on the Kremlin’s instructions and said the Georgian ambassador had been summoned and sent to Georgia on consultations over the former official’s extradition.
Zelenskyy’s comments came following Saakashvili’s engagement in a trial hearing involving him in Tbilisi via an online link, where he looked very thin, accusing the government of damaging his health.
“I cannot comment on the official communication between Georgia and Ukraine. We all understand that it is quite a difficult period.There is pressure on Ukraine from Russia, as well as on Georgia, and we said from the beginning that Georgia and Ukraine have a common enemy and it is important that they stand together and not oppose each other”, Degnan said, expressing hopes Tbilisi and Kyiv would be able to “overcome this situation through diplomatic means or personal communications”.
The Georgian foreign office on Tuesday expressed its “deep concerns” over Kyiv’s move and highlighted the May ruling by the European Court of Human Rights which rejected Saakashvili’s transfer abroad on health grounds.
Georgian officials claim Saakashvili had been engaged in “self-harm” since detention in 2021 to “escape justice” for the crimes committed while in office.
Tags:
Kelly Degnan