Imprisoned ex-pres. Saakashvili urges “preparations” for “liberation” of Georgian occupied regions

Mikheil Saakashvili, the currently imprisoned former president of Georgia, on Friday wrote “we must prepare for the liberation of [currently Russian-controlled] Abkhazia and Tskhinvali regions. This window will open up very soon, and we should all seize the moment when the Russian army will be completely dismantled and Moscow will be in chaos”. 

 

In his post from the Tbilisi Vivamedi civilian clinic, where he has been receiving treatment since last year, the former official claimed the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy “has a broad strategic vision, and after the war this vision will be based on the strongest armed forces in Europe and Ukraine’s word will carry a lot of weight in the world”. 

 

“Georgia, with its Abkhazia region, will also become an attractive and very rich country for the whole world. I do not rule out that we have a common border with Ukraine on the Black Sea coast. Today, the existence or non-existence and victory of our country depends on President Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian army”, he said, adding “I am absolutely sure of the quick victory of Zelenskyy, the West, Ukraine and the Georgian people”. 

 

He also recalled Zelenskyy’s call as he said at 8 a.m. in May 2019, when the newly elected Ukrainian president “woke me up in Warsaw to inform me that one of his first orders as the president was to restore my [Ukrainian] citizenship”. 

 

“My first reaction, besides thanking him, was to tell him that I saw him as the leader of our entire region. I also could not have imagined that as a result of [Russian president Vladimir] Putin’s madness, he would become the leader of the entire free world”, Saakashvili said. 

 

He also claimed “Georgia has a special place in Zelenskiyy’s heart, but if we leave aside our emotions, we should all prepare for Ukraine’s inevitable victory. Ukraine and the occupied zones in the Black Sea region, will be completely unacceptable for the Western coalition”. 

 

Saakashvili, who currently holds Ukrainian citizenship, was arrested in Tbilisi in October 2021 on his clandestine return after eight years in self-imposed political exile. He is now serving his six-year-term for abuse of power while in office, while three other cases involving him are still pending.