Ex-President Saakashvili Talks Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine

Jailed ex-President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili, a Ukrainian citizen, commented on Russia’s invasion and the bombing of Ukraine during a courtroom address today.

“Putin began a war against Ukraine, that war aims to abolish the state of Ukraine,” Saakashvili argued, adding: “which will be followed by the annexation of Georgia without resistance and the restoration of the Russian empire.”

“This is the greatest threat,” he asserted.

“At least now the last person out there [thinking otherwise] should have been convinced that whatever I could have done in 2008, even if I had not moved a finger, informed the world, fired any bullets, the aggressor did not need any excuses to invade,” Saakashvili responded to critics over his handling of Russo-Georgian War of August 2008.

Saakashvili said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy did everything not to respond to “Russian provocations, [but] it did not help.”

The ex-President, who recently launched his second hunger strike, also appealed to the Georgian authorities to suspend his sentence and allow his medical transfer to Kyiv.

Saakashvili, still holding his position as the Chair of the Ukrainian National Reform Council’s Executive Committee, promised that he would not get involved in Georgian political affairs and call on his supporters to cease any protests if the Government took up his offer.

Also, Saakashvili claimed he would return back to Georgia after his health and the situation in Ukraine stabilized.

Georgian Dream government officials have repeatedly stated they are against Saakashvili’s possible transfer to Ukraine, maintaining the ex-President will serve his six-year prison term in Georgia.

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