Ukraine's New President Returns Citizenship to Saakashvili

Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, has restored the Ukrainian citizenship of Mikheil Saakashvili, ex-president of Georgia and former governor of Odessa region.

The information was published on the official website of the President of Ukraine.

Saakashvili said he would be back in Ukraine on May 29, to “assist the new president, Zelensky and the Ukrainian people.”

“He returned me the Ukrainian citizenship, which I was unlawfully deprived of, I was unlawfully expelled from the country. I will arrive in Kiev tomorrow,” he told Rustavi 2 TV on May 28.

Ex-president also vowed he would return to Georgia and “save the country” from the founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party, Bidzina Ivanishvili, who is often referred as the “informal ruler” of Georgia.

"I am convinced that the Georgian people will gain a victory, return their mother country and he will be defeated like his [Ivanishvili’s] colleagues in Ukraine,” Saakashvili said.

Saakashvili served as the third president of Georgia in 2004-2013 and the Governor of Ukraine’s Odessa in 2015-2016.

He supported Ukraine's Euromaidan movement and the 2014 Ukrainian revolution. On 30 May 2015, then Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko appointed him as Governor of Odessa Oblast. He was also granted Ukrainian citizenship but due to restrictions on dual nationality under Georgian law, was stripped of his Georgian citizenship.

On 7 November 2016, Saakashvili resigned as Governor, blaming Poroshenko personally for enabling corruption in Odessa and in Ukraine overall. Four days later he announced the creation of a new political movement.

On 26 July 2017, Saakashvili, at the time staying in the US, was stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship by Poroshenko and became a stateless person. He cannot return to Georgia because of the various charges against him.

 By Thea Morrison