The National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine should clarify the situation around the secret departure to Georgia of Mikhail Saakashvili, who is the head of the executive committee of the National Council of Reforms.

Irina Gerashchenko, deputy of the Verkhovna Rada from the European Solidarity faction, asked the NSDC Secretary Alexei Danilov a corresponding question.

“Mr. Danilov, we want to ask you, how does it happen that we have already smuggled the head of the office of simple reforms to Georgia in containers?

We already have a hole on the border, and smuggling and human trafficking is happening live, ”Gerashchenko said, speaking in the Rada.

Earlier, the media reported that the ex-president of Georgia, arrested at home on October 1, allegedly entered the country in a cargo container or trailer.

Various publications, citing sources, claimed that Saakashvili crossed the border in Poti, after which he went by car to Batumi, and then to Tbilisi.

Let us remind you that Saakashvili announced his return to Georgia for the elections to local self-government bodies, which took place last weekend.

On October 1, he wrote on Facebook that he had arrived home for the first time in eight years.

The Georgian authorities have repeatedly stated that they will immediately arrest the ex-president as soon as he arrives in the country, as he is on the wanted list in several criminal cases.

As a result, on the evening of October 1, he was detained.

  • meeting of the Verkhovna Rada

  • © www.rada.gov.ua

A source in the office of the President of Ukraine told RT that Mikhail Saakashvili's trip to Georgia came as a surprise even for his supporters.

“This is in the nature of Saakashvili, who evidently hoped that his arrival would influence the outcome of the municipal elections.

Apparently, he believed that, under the influence of the West, he would be released.

But these expectations did not come true.

Ukraine provides consular and legal assistance to the ex-president of Georgia, Zelensky wants to release him.

But, to be honest, the situation is difficult, ”the functionary noted.

Inevitability of punishment

After his arrest, Saakashvili is being held in a prison in the city of Rustavi.

Recall that in January 2018, the Tbilisi City Court sentenced Mikhail Saakashvili in absentia to three years in prison in the case of the murder of banker Sandro Girgvliani.

The ex-president was found guilty in the framework of this case under the article "Abuse of official position" for the fact that in 2008, bypassing official procedures by his decree, he pardoned the employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs involved in the murder.

And in the summer of 2018, the court sentenced Saakashvili in absentia to six years in prison in the case of the beating of ex-deputy Valery Gelashvili in 2005.

In addition, the ex-president is involved in the cases of dispersing the opposition rally on November 7, 2007, the pogrom of the Imedi TV company and the embezzlement of funds from the state budget - they are being considered in the courts.

Official Kiev reacted to the arrest of the politician.

So, the press secretary of the President of Ukraine Sergei Nikiforov on the day of Saakashvili's arrest said that Volodymyr Zelensky was concerned about the news of his detention, as well as "the tone of statements that are heard in Georgia regarding the possible development of the situation."

“Ukraine appeals to the Georgian side for clarification on all the circumstances and reasons for such a step in relation to a Ukrainian citizen,” Nikiforov wrote on his Facebook.

Later, Zelensky himself said that he would deal with the return of Saakashvili.

“As the president of Ukraine, I am constantly engaged in returning the citizens of Ukraine with the various opportunities that I have, which the authorities have given me,” Zelensky is quoted by Interfax-Ukraine.

- Mr. Saakashvili is a citizen of Ukraine.

Therefore, this also applies to him, and all institutions, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and our embassies that work in Georgia, and at the level of the Ambassador of Georgia, who works in Ukraine, and at the level of conversations between our cabinets of ministers, at the level of conversations of prime ministers - we are all we will do this. "

Recall that Zelensky, after his election as president of the country in 2019, returned to Saakashvili Ukrainian citizenship, which was deprived of him in 2017 by the previous leader of the country, Petro Poroshenko.

At the same time, the Georgian authorities made it clear that they were not going to extradite or extradite the ex-president to Ukraine.

Thus, Deputy Prime Minister Teya Tsulukiani on October 4 called the conversation about extradition "legal nonsense."

“Even if we imagine that the Ukrainian authorities will initiate a criminal case against Saakashvili on the fact of illegal crossing of the Ukrainian border and on this basis will apply to us with a request for his extradition, this will not happen, since the extradition rules are spelled out in the EU convention, and under these rules ex -the president does not fit, "Interfax quotes her.

She explained that, according to these rules, the ex-president must first serve his sentence in Georgia, and in six years he can be extradited to Ukraine - if by that time criminal prosecution is conducted against him.

An RT source in the Servant of the People party says that Saakashvili's behavior surprised even experienced Ukrainian politicians, as well as Zelensky's position on this incident.

“It is illegal to enter Georgia, violating all laws, to hide from the police - Saakashvili imagines himself to be a hero of a militant.

Apparently, he became sad: in Ukraine, he is no longer allowed to put on a show.

Zelenskiy's position is also surprising.

A citizen of Ukraine violated the laws of the country by leaving illegally.

Why defend it and spoil relations with another country? ”, - said the representative of the“ Servant of the People ”.

In turn, a RT source in the Batkivshchyna party said that support for Saakashvili from Kiev once again confirms the "frivolity" of the Zelensky administration.

“Ukraine does not leave the pages of the world media under the heading“ scandals ”.

Our problems are not enough for us, so are we still going to release Saakashvili, who is obviously playing too much?

The ex-president of Georgia does not have a political future, it can only be added to Zelensky's 95 Quarter.

What will happen next?

And most importantly - why do we need this whole circus?

I do not remember that Saakashvili did anything good for the country, ”the RT interlocutor complained.

From a legal point of view, the question of the Rada deputies to the NSDC is correct, but they are unlikely to receive an intelligible answer to it, says Oleg Nemensky, a leading researcher at the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies.

“Legally, Ukraine found itself in a rather difficult and unpleasant situation.

It is clear that the opposition considers it necessary to use this to submit such requests, which are nothing but a news feed for discussion in the media.

She will probably receive an unsubscribe from the NSDC, but the submission of a request and this unsubscribe will be another reason for the opposition to mock the authorities, ”the expert noted.

"Prisoner of Putin"

A couple of days after Saakashvili's arrest, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said that the ex-president of the republic was urging him to be sent to Ukraine.

“Now he urgently asks to be returned to Ukraine.

He realized that he was in a prison in a difficult situation.

He says to the staff (of the penitentiary institution. -

RT

): "Urgently return me to Ukraine."

Imagine the state of the person.

Why did he come, why did he naively believe that we slept here and nothing would follow his arrival? "

- TASS quotes the words of Garibashvili.

  • Saakashvili supporters rally in Georgia

  • © REUTERS / Irakli Gedenidze

While in prison, Saakashvili wrote an open letter to Zelensky, in which he thanked the Ukrainian leader for his support.

It was posted on the Facebook page of the ex-president of Georgia.

In the letter, Saakashvili calls his arrest illegal, and the accusations against himself - falsified, "which no one in the world except Russia will recognize."

The politician also declared his love for Ukraine and expressed hope for a sound assessment of his contribution to the reforms.

"Since I am actually a personal prisoner of Putin, I highly appreciate your principled position on the protection of Ukraine, the entire region and all the prisoners of the empire," Saakashvili wrote.

This publication was briefly discussed in the Kremlin.

Answering the question about the open letter, the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov said that the situation around Saakashvili is a "theater of the absurd".

In turn, Oleg Nemensky noted that the statements of the ex-president of Georgia about his status as "Putin's prisoner" once again confirm his ability to bring any situation to the point of absurdity.

“Of course, the eternal accusations against Russia of any problems, and specifically - accusations against the President of Russia - are often really absurd in nature.

In his situation, one can only let go of all sorts of jokes in order to give some informational reasons for mentioning him in the press, ”the political scientist added.

According to him, Saakashvili partly resembles Ostap Bender, "only in the political sphere."

“He is of some interest in the sense that he constantly demonstrates his ability to take very original political steps, but as a result of such a game he became very inconvenient for everyone with whom he cooperates, both in Georgia and in Ukraine,” Nemensky stressed.

Political analyst Alexander Dudchak, in a conversation with RT, expressed the opinion that Saakashvili's departure to Georgia was most likely coordinated with Western curators, therefore, requests to the NSDC from Rada deputies will remain unanswered.

“Nobody pulled Saakashvili there by force.

Now one gets the impression that this story is similar to the scenario of how Navalny surrendered into the hands of Russian justice in the hope that his supervisors would pull him out, but everything went according to the law, and Navalny was in prison, ”the expert recalled.

Paradoxical in the current situation is that now both Saakashvili and those who initiated criminal cases against him in Georgia call each other agents of the Kremlin, Dudchak added.

The analyst noted that the very figure of Mikhail Saakashvili and his political activities in Georgia and Ukraine speak of the degradation of the statehood of these countries after they adopted the so-called Euro-Atlantic course.

“Saakashvili is a typical representative of the grant-eater breed, who first worked in Georgia, dabbled her, then came to Ukraine, successfully dealt with this business there, tried to return to Georgia and implement another coup.

Georgia and Ukraine have been turned into third world countries, where coups d'états take place with unenviable regularity, ”said the interlocutor of RT.

At the same time, Dudchak suggested that Saakashvili went on another adventure, since he was confident of his impunity.

“And now he continues to break the comedy,” the expert concluded.