Saakashvili accused Putin of not giving him Ukrainian citizenship
Former Odessa Oblast Governor Mikheil Saakashvili, who was stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship, commented on Russian President Vladimir Putin's statement, which suggested that newly elected Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy restore Saakashvili's Ukrainian citizenship, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“This is the Putin who in December 2017, at a press conference, loudly demanded that Poroshenko expel me from Ukraine (which Poroshenko did a month later),” Saakashvili emphasized, commenting on the statement of the Russian President to the RBC agency.
According to Saakashvili, it was Putin who allegedly demanded that Poroshenko not invite him to the inauguration in 2014, and now “Putin’s representatives, through intermediaries, demand that Zelensky not only not return his citizenship, but also set a categorical condition not to let him into Ukraine.”
“Putin made exactly the same demand, not to let me into the country, not only to the authorities of Georgia, but also to Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan. And according to my information, this is exactly what he discussed with Turkish President Erdogan in 2016 during a meeting in Russia,” says the ex-governor of the Odessa region.
“We will deal with the Ukrainians ourselves!” Saakashvili added.
Saakashvili accused Putin of denying him Ukrainian citizenship.