Analysis

Former Georgian president to return to Ukraine, then to home country

Former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili has announced plans to return to Ukraine with the aim of helping president-elect Volodymyr Zelensky as an adviser.

Mr Saakashvili also expressed his intention to return to Georgia where he served as president until 2013, saying that he has “big plans” in the country. “Ukraine is my home, but saving Georgia is the priority issue for me. That does not mean that I will not arrive in Kyiv. I will definitely arrive in Ukraine and then, in Tbilisi,” the former president told Poland-based Belarusian broadcaster Belsat.

“I am now consolidating all Georgian emigrants around the world. We have a big Munich congress ahead and we will start the process of saving Georgia, and put it on a development track,” he said.

Mr Saakashvili, who also served as the governor of Ukraine’s Odessa territory between 2015 and 2016, was expelled by outgoing Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko after he provided inaccurate information about his past when applying for Ukrainian citizenship.

Earlier this year, when running for president of Ukraine, Zelensky said that that he considered Mr Saakashvili a great diplomat who is capable of taking an important position in Ukraine’s government, adding that his citizenship should be restored.