© AFP 2016/ VASILY MAXIMOV
Mikheil Saakashvili, former Georgian President and the governor of the Ukrainian region of Odessa, has decided to resign.
Mikheil Saakashvili, the governor of the Ukrainian region of Odessa, said Monday he had made a decision to resign.
"In the current situation, I made a decision to resign and begin a new phase of struggle," he told a press conference.
Saakashvili, a fugitive from prosecution in his homeland Georgia, was granted Ukrainian citizenship and appointed the governor of Odesa Region last year. He served as Georgia's president between 2004 and 2013.
He left for the Unites States just days before his presidential term expired, and has been living outside Georgia ever since. In spring 2014, Georgia accused Saakashvili of embezzling immense sums from the state budget, and started an investigation into the case. The former president has denied the charges.
Comment: Senior Russian lawmaker says Saakashvili may try to stage comeback in Georgia
A senior Russian legislator believes Mikheil Saakashvili's decision to quit the post of governor of Ukraine's Odessa Region stems from the poor performance of his party (United National Movement) in the elections in his home country, Georgia.
"Saakashvili's strategic aim is to regain power in Georgia," said Leonid Kalashnikov, the chairman of the State Duma's CIS Affairs Committee.
"He has always been regarded as an outsider in Ukraine and he was perfectly aware of that. His real aim was to stay as close as possible to his home country he had to leave, and to run the political process in Georgia from Ukraine," Kalashnikov told TASS about Saakashvili's resignation.
Saakashvili, he explained, has had the sincere intention to rise to power with his party's support.
"He failed, though, and now he wants to put on a bold face. He has never been welcome in Ukraine. He has now suffered a defeat in his home country Georgia and is desperately trying to find a job for himself," Kalashnikov said, adding that Saakashvili's position of the Odessa governor was a cover-up.
He did not rule out that if she emerged the winner in the US presidential election race, Hillary Clinton might invite Saakashvili in the capacity of some kind of East European aide or adviser.
More on Saakashvili's resignation:
Mikheil Saakashvili resigns as Odessa's Governor, positions himself as leader of opposition to Kiev's government
In the event not only has Saakashvili resigned, but so apparently has Odessa's police chief whom he appointed, whilst all the other people he brought with him to Odessa as his team - including the Russian liberal politician Maria Gaidar (daughter of Boris Yeltsin's liberal prime minister Yegor Gaidar) - have either already left Ukraine or are under investigation by Ukraine's government.
Saakashvili now apparently plans to lead a political movement in Ukraine in opposition to the Maidan government. Apparently its pitch will be "the revolution betrayed".
As Ukrainians struggle to make ends meet in difficult economic conditions and with winter closing in, and as the gross corruption of their leaders becomes increasingly obvious, there is no doubt that such a pitch could gain traction. However it is most unlikely that a foreigner and outsider like Saakashvili is the person to make it successfully.
Comment: Senior Russian lawmaker says Saakashvili may try to stage comeback in Georgia More on Saakashvili's resignation: Mikheil Saakashvili resigns as Odessa's Governor, positions himself as leader of opposition to Kiev's government