You're reading: Nuland: US won’t interfere in Ukrainian-Georgian relations over Saakashvili

Tbilisi – The issue of the extradition of former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili is a matter of bilateral Ukrainian-Georgian relations and the U.S. won't comment on it, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland said at a briefing in Tbilisi.

As far as we know, the former Georgian president was invited by a member of an extended advisory group created by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. As you know, Ukraine is trying to establish its role on the international arena, and Mikheil Saakashvili has a lot of experience in that as well as experience in conducting reforms, she said.

Nuland said that Saakashvili was a private individual and thus Georgia’s demand for his extradition was a bilateral matter.

According to her, Georgia and Ukraine are interconnected as both countries are on their way to Europe. Nuland said this was very important for both states, which was why every Georgian citizen should stand beside Ukrainian citizens and vice versa, as both countries needed each other to resolve issues of vital importance.

Previously, the Georgian Prosecutor General’s Office said that Ukraine had refused to cooperate over extraditing Saakashvili and former Justice Minister of Georgia Zurab Adeishvili.

Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili said that preparations for his visit to Kyiv were ongoing. However, he didn’t discount the possibility of an awkward situation because of Saakashvili’s appointment as Head of the Advisory International Council of Reforms under the President of Ukraine.