Former Georgian President and former governor of the Odesa region Mikheil Saakashvili is planning to visit several European countries, including Denmark and Belgium, before his announced return to Ukraine (Sept. 10); he also claims to be aware of three possible scenarios in accordance with which Ukrainian authorities will act once he arrives in the country.
“I am getting ready to return to Ukraine. In the coming days, I will be touring European countries. I am flying to Copenhagen for the European People’s Party summit, where I will meet with European politicians. I don’t rule out that I will also fly to Brussels to attend a meeting with members of the European Parliament,” Saakashvili, who is in the Polish capital Warsaw now, spoke about his immediate plans through the press service of his Movement of New Forces political party.
Saakashvili confirmed that on midday of Sept. 10, he will be “legally crossing the Ukrainian border through the Krakovets border crossing point, adding that he expects to see his supporters and also those Ukrainian citizens concerned with the future of their country on site.
The Ukrainian administration has envisaged three scenarios in the event of his return, Saakashvili said.
One scenario is that the politician will be banned from crossing the border and his Ukrainian passport taken from him before his deportation back to Poland. The other implies that he will be allowed into Ukraine but then detained on some pretext and subjected to an extradition procedure. And there is still another scenario involving “mayhem” near the border checkpoint, he said.
“I’d like to tell the authorities: the more they go ahead with such steps, the more they transition to lawless actions. I have committed no crime, violated nothing,” Saakashvili said, appealing to the Ukrainian administration.
“I hear, [Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen] Avakov has been instructed to take control of ground checkpoints and [the Ukrainian Security Service] SBU to take care of airports. Then the Verkhovna Rada adopts a bill aimed specifically against me, introducing criminal liability for illicit crossing of the border.”
Saakashvili then urged Kyiv to refrain from such actions, reaffirming that he is not going to break the law.
Saakashvili also recalled that he had received invitations from several European countries to become their citizen and he had also been issued a U.S. working visa. “But I’ve left everything behind, come here [to Poland] and now I am preparing to come back to Ukraine although they have several scenarios,” he said.
It was reported on July 26 that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko had issued an executive order to strip Saakashvili of citizenship. The politician was in the U.S. at the time. He later came to Poland with his Ukrainian passport and then left for Lithuania.
Saakashvili announced on August 16 that he is going to return to Ukraine on Sept. 10.
The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine earlier promised that if Saakashvili attempts to cross the frontier, border guards would act consistent with Ukrainian laws.
