Mykhailo Podolyak on official Ukraine's request to transfer Mikheil Saakashvili abroad for treatment
By Liza Mchedlidze
Monday, January 9, 2023
Mykhailo Podolyak, the adviser to the president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, spoke about Georgia's former president Mikheil Saakashvili in a television interview with Yulia Latynina. He spoke about official Ukraine's position as well as his personal opinions regarding Mikheil Saakashvili.
Podolyak said that the Government of Ukraine has officially requested the Georgian side to transfer Mikheil Saakashvili.
According to him, the 'optimal' decision is for the Georgian Government to transfer the ex-president to any country for treatment, whether it's Ukraine or any European country.
The adviser to the president of Ukraine also said in an interview that he himself is ready to arrive in Georgia and 'take' Saakashvili abroad.
"The optimal decision is to hand over the person [Saakashvili] to any country. If you want, I will come and take him, this is not a problem at all," Podolyak said in Yulia Latynina's program.
As Podolyak noted, Ukraine officially requests the Georgian government to transfer Saakashvili to Ukraine for treatment, and if they do not do this, then transfer him to a third country, any European country, to receive the necessary treatment.
As for his personal opinion, he assessed it as 'more radical' and said that the Georgian government, which, according to him, likes Russia 'for some reason', is doing it purposefully, so that Georgia is written in history as a country who tortured their president in prison and called on Georgia's authorities to refrain from doing so:
"This is the official position. As for my personal position, it is more radical. I believe that the government of Georgia deliberately wants to put Georgia in history as a black spot, as a state that deliberately tortured its president in prison. This is how it all looks to me personally.
I give a piece of simple advice, without interference, I tell them directly - look, representatives of the current government, the state in general, deputies of the ruling party, of the party, which for some reason likes Russia so much, do not do so that you write yourself in black letters in the history of Georgia," Podolyak said.
