Ambassador of Ukraine clarifies that Saakashvili is not an official in Ukraine
By Khatia Bzhalava
Thursday, June 18
The ambassador of Ukraine to Georgia, Igor Dolgov met the representative of the ruling party, Mamuka Mdinaradze. The main subjects of the meeting were the constitutional amendments and the upcoming elections, however, they also discussed the announcement made by the former president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, who now is a citizen of Ukraine.
“I am not going to watch quietly Georgia being destroyed, I am getting ready for victory,” said Saakashvili in the video published on his Facebook page, adding that the elections of 2020 will decide whether Georgia will survive or demise.
According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, David Zalkaniani, said that the decision has been made to invite the ambassador of Ukraine to Georgia, in order to make an explanation about the announcement made by a high-rank official of Ukraine. Zalkaniani thinks that the announcement was an intervention in the domestic affairs of Georgia, in particular “he was involved in electoral campaigns and processes.” According to Zalkaniani, even though Georgian side has been informed that the third president of Georgia was designated as the official of Ukraine and Saakashvili himself announced that he was a high-rank representative and the mandate assigned to him considered his engagement in significant processes of reforms, at the meeting the ambassador of Ukraine clarified that Saakashvili is neither a representative of the executive branch nor is he even an official of Ukraine.
“Depending on the mutual challenges such as the occupation of our countries and our European and Euro-Atlantic aspirations, Ukraine is our strategic partner and nothing will hinder the partnership between Georgia and Ukraine. We are united in several regional formats and I want to tell you that I am in constant communication with my Ukrainian colleagues and frequently discuss all the issues that are relevant for our partnership,” Zalkaniani stated.
The ambassador of Ukraine noted that the fact that the citizen of Ukraine interferes in the domestic political affairs of Georgia is the Georgian side’s vision, while the Ukrainian side’s vision is that Mikheil Saakashvili is not an official in Ukraine.
“Strategic partnership between Ukraine and Georgia is the fundamental principle of our bilateral relationship. Georgian and Ukrainian people want us, politicians to do more to establish an even closer relationship.”
According to Dolgov, several other issues related to the fight against COVID-19, the current Ministerial of the Eastern Partnership Foreign Ministers, as well as the evacuation of Ukrainian citizens from Georgia and mutual assistance were discussed during the meeting.
