Zelensky demanded to send Saakashvili to Ukraine for treatment

The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky demanded that the ex-President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili be allowed to travel to Ukraine for treatment. He reminded that Saakashvili also has Ukrainian citizenship. Zelensky ordered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to summon the Georgian ambassador to Kyiv and ask him to leave Ukraine within 48 hours to hold consultations in Tbilisi on this issue.

The reason for Zelensky’s statement was the next court hearing in the case of Saakashvila on Monday. The ex-president of Georgia participated in it via video link from the Vyvamed clinic. In the video, Saakashvili looks extremely exhausted. As reported by the Georgian service of Radio Liberty, the politician began his speech in Ukrainian, and then made political statements and addressed the speaker of the parliament, Shalve Papuashvili, with a request to apologize for the fact that “he was brought to such a state.”

In his Twitter, Zelensky stated that “Russia is killing the citizen of Ukraine Mikhail Saakashvili at the hands of the Georgian authorities” and reminded that Kyiv has repeatedly asked Tbilisi to agree to the return of Saakashvili to Ukraine, and Western partners have offered their own options.

• Mikhail Saakashvili is serving a 6-year prison term on charges of abuse of authority. He himself does not admit guilt and considers himself a political prisoner. Since May of last year, the former president of Georgia has been undergoing treatment for a number of diseases at the Tbilisi “Vyvamed” clinic.
• Saakashvili demands that he be transferred to another country for treatment, accusing the Georgian authorities of seeking his death. He also suspects that he was poisoned. The authorities, in turn, accuse Saakashvili of simulation.