Ex-President of Georgia Is Seized at Restaurant in Ukraine, and Deported to Poland
- 6 years ago
Ex-President of Georgia Is Seized at Restaurant in Ukraine, and Deported to Poland
In an interview with Ukrainian media by telephone from Poland, Mr. Saakashvili denounced various charges against him as a "total falsehood" and accused Mr. Poroshenko of acting in concert with the President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and the former Georgian leader Bidzina Ivanishvili "to get rid of me." Mr. Poroshenko "is not a president and not a man,
but a sly profiteer who wants to ruin Ukraine," Mr. Saakashvili said.
Mr. Saakashvili, a former ally turned critic of Ukraine’s president, Petro O. Poroshenko, entered Ukraine
from Poland in September, accompanied by a throng of supporters who surged past border guards.
Mr. Saakashvili went to Ukraine after the protests toppled Mr. Yanukovych
and became a keen supporter of Ukraine’s new president, Mr. Poroshenko, who appointed him governor of Odessa, a Ukrainian region on the Black Sea notorious for corruption.
A spokeswoman for Mr. Saakashvili said he had been detained during lunch at a Georgian restaurant in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine,
by armed men in camouflage uniforms from Alfa, a unit of Ukraine’s internal security agency, and the border guard service.
12, 2018
MOSCOW — After repeated failed attempts to lock up or at least muzzle Mikheil Saakashvili, the former president of Georgia, Ukrainian
security officers on Monday grabbed the now stateless ex-leader in a restaurant and bundled him onto an aircraft bound for Poland.
Mr. Saakashvili has denounced the charges against him in Georgia as politically motivated,
and said the same about efforts by the Georgian authorities in recent months to have him detained.
In an interview with Ukrainian media by telephone from Poland, Mr. Saakashvili denounced various charges against him as a "total falsehood" and accused Mr. Poroshenko of acting in concert with the President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and the former Georgian leader Bidzina Ivanishvili "to get rid of me." Mr. Poroshenko "is not a president and not a man,
but a sly profiteer who wants to ruin Ukraine," Mr. Saakashvili said.
Mr. Saakashvili, a former ally turned critic of Ukraine’s president, Petro O. Poroshenko, entered Ukraine
from Poland in September, accompanied by a throng of supporters who surged past border guards.
Mr. Saakashvili went to Ukraine after the protests toppled Mr. Yanukovych
and became a keen supporter of Ukraine’s new president, Mr. Poroshenko, who appointed him governor of Odessa, a Ukrainian region on the Black Sea notorious for corruption.
A spokeswoman for Mr. Saakashvili said he had been detained during lunch at a Georgian restaurant in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine,
by armed men in camouflage uniforms from Alfa, a unit of Ukraine’s internal security agency, and the border guard service.
12, 2018
MOSCOW — After repeated failed attempts to lock up or at least muzzle Mikheil Saakashvili, the former president of Georgia, Ukrainian
security officers on Monday grabbed the now stateless ex-leader in a restaurant and bundled him onto an aircraft bound for Poland.
Mr. Saakashvili has denounced the charges against him in Georgia as politically motivated,
and said the same about efforts by the Georgian authorities in recent months to have him detained.