Controversial Georgian ex-president Saakashvili takes charge of Ukraine's reform body - UPDATE: Tbilisi recalls Ambassador from Kiev

RT
Fri, 08 May 2020 00:06 UTC

© Reuters / Valentyn Ogirenko

Georgia's former President Mikheil Saakashvili speaks with journalists.

After weeks of rumor and speculation, Mikhail Saakashvili, the former Georgian president who is wanted for embezzlement at home, has been appointed as head of Ukraine's executive council on reforms.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree on Thursday confirming Saakashvili's new political role.

Zelensky said that he "sincerely congratulated" the 52-year-old on this "new challenge," adding that he trusts Saakashvili to be able to "provide impetus" to the body and help him with "implementing important changes in the life of the country."

According to media leaks, Saakashvili was initially considered for the job of deputy prime minister, but there was no consensus on his candidacy even among members of Zelensky's own party.

The National Reform Council, of which he has now taken charge, is a presidential advisory body - and does need "impetus," as it last convened more than two years ago.

Saakashvili has long argued that Ukraine is in dire need of change, saying in an interview earlier this year that the quality of life in the country was "much worse" than during Soviet times, warning that it may well split into five separate states if something isn't done.

His supporters praise him for the reforms he carried out in Georgia during his 2004-2013 presidency, insisting that he seriously reduced corruption there. However, those claims are soured by the criminal charges of large-scale embezzlement, which forced him to flee Georgia as soon as his term in office was over. Saakashvili was also infamously responsible for sending Georgian troops to attack the breakaway republic of South Ossetia in August 2008 - which provoked a military conflict with Russia after its peacekeepers stationed there came under attack.

The US-educated politician's fortunes took an unexpected turn in 2015, when then Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko granted him citizenship and appointed him governor of the Black Sea coastal region of Odessa.

The move soon became a PR disaster for Poroshenko, as the rash and unpredictable Saakashvili began bashing the Ukrainian authorities in an attempt to win the sympathy of the public. He was sacked from the job in 2016, deprived of his passport and deported from Ukraine.

Zelensky, who easily defeated Poroshenko in the presidential election in April 2019 on a platform of radical reforms and rooting out corruption, restored Saakashvili's citizenship last May, with the "reformer" returning to Ukraine the day after.

Comment: UPDATE Friday 8th May @ 22:11 CET:

RT reports:

Teimuraz Sharashenidze, Georgia's envoy to Ukraine, was told to pack and return until further notice, Davit Zalkaliani, the country's Foreign Minister, told the media this Friday.

The chief diplomat said that "further steps are needed to consult with the ambassador" because, as he put it, "certain problems" had emerged in the relationship between Kiev and Tbilisi.

The demarche, considered a sign of extreme displeasure in diplomatic practice, came after Georgia's former president, Mikhail Saakashvili, was appointed head of Ukraine's National Reform Council.

Giving a top government job to "a person convicted and wanted by the Georgian judiciary" raises questions, Foreign Minister Zalkaliani stated.

In Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said he hoped the US-educated Saakashvili would "give an impetus" to effect much-needed change, but back at home, law enforcement agencies accuse him of large-scale embezzlement, abuse of power, and corruption.

He fled the country after his term ended in 2013, and the new leadership has, since then, pushed for criminal charges against the fugitive politician.

However, Georgia's diplomatic demarche won't be escalated any further, its foreign minister revealed, saying that severing ties between the two "friendly" post-Soviet nations isn't on the table.

Saakashvili reinvented himself on Ukrainian soil following the 2014, West-inspired Euromaidan coup in Kiev. But his political fortunes in Ukraine have seen ups and downs, from being made (surprisingly) governor of the Odessa region by then-President Petro Poroshenko to becoming a stateless person and a deportee to neighboring Poland.

In Georgia, he remains a highly divisive figure since he seized power on the back of the 2004 revolt in Tbilisi. Supporters hail him for battling corruption and making governance more transparent, but opponents accuse the ex-president of silencing dissent and persecuting rivals.

Saakashvili's foreign adventures earned him a reputation of being a volatile, impulsive leader. He gained notoriety for briefly deploying Georgian troops to Iraq in the mid-2000s, and giving a green light to the 2008 invasion of the breakaway republic of South Ossetia which triggered a six-day armed conflict, in which Russia responded to Georgia's attacks on its peacekeepers and local civilians.

See also:

• US preparing for another color revolution: Georgia 2020
• Ukraine one of the poorest nations in Europe & beyond - World Bank
• The purpose of Zelensky's performance in Donbass