I didn’t build cities for Russians to live there while Georgians pick strawberries abroad – Saakashvili

Imprisoned former President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili said Wednesday that he and the previous United National Movement (UNM) government “had not built modern cities for Russians to live there, while Georgians leave for abroad to pick strawberries there.”

In his post on social media Saakashvili slammed the policy of the current government and the inflow of Russians due to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Saakashvili and the UNM members stated that the majority of Russians, who arrived in Georgia following the war, “escaped the difficulties caused by international sanctions, having no protest to their authorities’ illegal and aggressive moves.”

“We are neither a lazy nor a laggard nation, we need faith in ourselves the most! When we were building Sighnaghi, Batumi and planning Lazika, we wanted to do everything as in Europe and even better. We did not build these cities so that Russians buy apartments there and Georgians go to Germany to pick strawberries,” Saakashvili said.

Saakashvili, who currently holds Ukrainian citizenship, was arrested in Tbilisi in October 2021, after eight years in political exile.