Ukraine says “no ground” to detain Saakashvili

The Ukrainian Interior Ministry has stated that Mikheil Saakashvili, Georgia’s former president who was deprived of both his Georgian and Ukrainian citizenships, is illegally on the territory of Ukraine, but there are no grounds to detain him.

Ukraine’s Interior Ministry spokesman Artoim Shevchenko said that the State Border Agency gave Saakashvili a protocol on administrative violation, though it did not have sufficient grounds for his detention.

The Code of Administrative Offenses of Ukraine sets a fine worth 130-330 dollars in such situations.

When Saakashvili broke into the country several days ago with a crowd of supporters, the Ukrainian authorities claimed he would be “held accountable”.

In Georgia, the majority representatives say Poroshenko should not have let him into Ukraine after the Georgian ex-president’s term expired in 2013 in his homeland.

The United National Movement opposition, the party established by Saakashvili, claims that the former president “is a political heavyweight” and is capable of carrying out “significant changes both in Georgia and Ukraine”.

Commenting on Saakashvili’s arrival in Ukraine Georgia’s PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili stressed that Saakashvili is Georgia’s “past, a very regrettable past”.

Saakashvili is charged in Georgia with four alleged crimes and Georgia has addressed Ukraine three times to extradite him.

The fact is that Saakashvili knows very well how to present himself to the public and how to escape from hard situations.

Also, he is still appreciated by many in developed countries.

Taking the current situation into account and official statements from Ukraine, it seems unlikely that Saakashvili will be extradited to Georgia.

If Poroshenko decides to do so anyway, it will be a very critical moment and Saakashvili will probably try to move to some other country to avoid prison in Georgia.

With regards to Kvirikashvili’s statement that Saakashvili is “a regrettable past”, Saakashvili really did make mistakes, especially in terms of human rights and judicial issues, however, he also managed to turn Georgia to the right direction, to Europe, from one of the darkest eras in the country’s history.