Kiev's Decision To Appoint Saakashvili To Reform Council Not Independent- Russian Lawmaker

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th May, 2020) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's decision to appoint former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili as the head of executive committee of the Ukrainian National Council for Reforms was not taken independently and had big geopolitical goals behind it, Russian lower house lawmaker Viktor Vodolatsky told Sputnik on Thursday.

Once exiled and stripped off citizenship both in Ukraine and Georgia, Saakashvili was appointed by Zelenskyy to the new high-ranking post earlier in the day.

"There are big geopolitical issues behind Saakashvili's appointment ... These actions of President Zelenskyy are yet another demonstration of how he lacks independence and is managed from abroad, because a normal head of state would never made such appointments. Naturally, he is not stupid, and he saw what sort of reforms Saakashvili was carrying out in Georgia during his presidency. Georgia is still shaking to almost daily clashes and rallies by various opposition groups � these are all Saakashvili's reforms," Vodolatsky said.

According to the lawmaker, who also serves as the first deputy head of the Russian lower house's committee for CIS affairs, Saakashvili's appointment was also an "unfriendly curtsy" toward Georgia, where he is still treated as a criminal.

Moreover, given that Saakashvili is not particularly welcome in Russia either, due to his critical stance toward this country, his appointment by Zelenskyy can be taken as a signal that the current Ukrainian president is not seeking to improve relations with Moscow, Vodolatsky opined.

His colleague from the Russian upper house, lawmaker Oleg Morozov, concurred, saying that Zelenskyy had openly bid defiance not only to Georgia and Russia, but also some of his own political supporters in Ukraine who are critical of Saakashvili, such as Interior Minister Arsen Avakov.

Zelenskyy risks repeating the path of his predecessor, Petro Poroshenko, who first "warmly welcomed Saakashvili and then did not know how to kick him out of the country," while the West is "giggling and applauding," perfectly aware that this appointment was a courtesy to it, according to the lawmaker.

"The Saakashvili cause is becoming a chronic Ukrainian disease. It is both funny and very said," Morozov said.

�Saakashvili, 52, served as the president of Georgia from from 2004-2013. In 2013, he fled the country after being confronted with criminal prosecution by the new authorities. He entered the Ukrainian politics in spring of 2015, when then-President Petro Poroshenko granted him citizenship and appointed the governor of the Black Sea coastal region of Odessa.

In October 2016, Poroshenko claimed that Saakashvili failed to observe his pledges about the region's development and fired him. Saakashvili was eventually stripped off Ukrainian citizenship and exiled to Poland. Zelenskyy reinstated his citizenship in May 2019 and let him return to Ukraine.