This article is from the source 'rtcom' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.rt.com/news/402796-saakashvili-ukraine-poland-border/
The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Former Georgian leader Saakashvili breaks border blockade to enter Ukraine (VIDEO) | Former Georgian leader Saakashvili breaks border blockade to enter Ukraine (VIDEO) |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| In a quest to regain his Ukrainian citizenship, of which he was stripped in July, former Georgian president and Odessa governor Mikhail Saakashvili and his supporters forced their way through a cordon of guards to make their way from Poland into Ukraine. | In a quest to regain his Ukrainian citizenship, of which he was stripped in July, former Georgian president and Odessa governor Mikhail Saakashvili and his supporters forced their way through a cordon of guards to make their way from Poland into Ukraine. |
| Flanked by dozens of associates chanting “Misha! Misha!” (Saakashvili’s nickname) and waving yellow-and-blue Ukrainian flags, the currently stateless politician made his way to the Shehyny checkpoint, which was closed by Kiev's authorities earlier Sunday, according to media reports. Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was on hand to welcome him back. | |
| The crowd was met by a line of uniformed border guards, blocking the way with arms locked. | |
| Scenes of chaos followed, as Saakashvili’s supporters exchanged angry words with the unarmed officers. Finally, several began to push against the human chain until it broke, allowing Saakashvili free access through the border checkpoint. | |
| “The people literally carried me over the border, I did not expect this, and the police did not stop them, as they are on the side of the people,” declared a beaming Saakashvili to Ukrainian channel NewsOne, adding that he planned to travel to the nearby city of Lvov “to defend his legal right” to Ukrainian citizenship. | |
| Saakashvili relinquished his Georgian citizenship when he accepted an offer to become the governor of the coastal region of Odessa in 2015 at the personal behest of President Petro Poroshenko. | |
| However, the two men fell out, and Saakashvili resigned in November 2016, blaming Poroshenko for corruption in the country and stating that he intended to form his own political movement. Two months ago, Poroshenko personally signed an order annulling Saakashvili’s citizenship, though no official reason was made public. |