Follow live the latest news about the war in Ukraine
Follow live the latest news about the war in Ukraine
July 4 () –
The Georgian authorities have warned this Tuesday of an increase in tension with Ukraine after the Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelensky, ordered to summon the Georgian ambassador in Kiev to protest the “treatment” received by former president Mikhail Saakashvili, who is imprisoned.
The Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has indicated in a statement that this decision has been understood as an “extreme increase in tension” at the bilateral level and has expressed its concern in this regard.
Thus, he has pointed out that it is a “regrettable” action by the Ukrainian authorities against a “friendly State and its population”, according to the text, which have branded the reasons put forward by the Government of Ukraine as “incomprehensible”.
In this sense, the Georgian authorities have emphasized that it is “interference in the internal affairs” of Tbilisi and have stated that it “damages the strategic relations between the parties” despite the fact that Saakashvili also has Ukrainian nationality.
“We hope that Kiev will review its decision and direct its efforts towards further development of the historically friendly relations between the two countries,” said the Georgian Foreign Ministry, which has refrained from responding to the measures taken by Kiev to “not strain more relationships.” “Georgia will continue to express its solidarity and support for Ukraine,” he added.
Sources close to the former president, who was arrested in October 2021 on Georgian soil, warned last March that he is “close to death” after allegedly being poisoned and having gone from weighing 120 kilos to weighing only 56, something which has been denied by the Georgian authorities.
The former president has several open cases against him and, according to the Georgian Prosecutor’s Office, he has a pending sentence of nine years in prison: three years for being involved in the murder of banker Sandro Guirgvliani, and another six for a beating of deputy Valeri Guelashvili.
In addition, Saakashvili faces several charges that are still under review by the courts in connection with the breaking up of an opposition demonstration in November 2007, among others.
