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Saakashvili promises not to organize another revolution in Ukraine

Instead, politician said, he and his supporters would use legal tools to have their demands implemented

The leader of the New Forces Movement Mikhail Saakashvili EPA-EFE/MYKOLA TYS

The leader of the New Forces Movement Mikhail Saakashvili

© EPA-EFE/MYKOLA TYS

KIEV, September 17. /TASS/. Former Georgian president, former governor of Ukraine's Odessa region and now the leader of the New Forces Movement, Mikhail Saakashvili, said on Sunday he has no plans to organize another revolution in Ukraine.

"Although I am an old revolutionary, I don’t want to organize another revolution," Gordon media outlet quoted him as saying at a rally in the city of Vinnitsa, west-central Ukraine.

Instead, he said, he and his supporters would use legal tools to have their demands implemented. "We will travel around entire Ukraine to collect demands. Then, these demands will be referred to the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) and the ‘supreme profiteer,’" he said.

After the rally in Vinnitsa, Saakashvili headed for Lvov.

Earlier, On September 12, he said he planned to tour "many cities and villages" in Ukraine to come out with a list of demands on the government reform at a rally in Kiev on September 17.

Saakashvili, whose extradition is sought in Georgia on charges of a number of crimes, received Ukrainian citizenship in May 2015. Later on, he was appointed governor of the Odessa region. After a bumpy governorship that was marked by resounding scandals, he tendered resignation in November 2016, founded a political party of his own and started leveling sharp criticism at the authorities. President Poroshenko revoked his Ukrainian citizenship on July 26, 2017, when the combative Saakashvili was visiting the U.S.

On September 10, Saakashvili and his supporters broke through a police cordon at the Shegeni checkpoint at the Polish-Ukrainian border to cross into Ukraine. During the incident, 22 Ukrainian law enforcement officers were injured. Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko backed Saakashvili during the events.

Police launched criminal proceedings into the illegal border crossing. This crime is punishable by up to five years behind bars. Police also launched a criminal investigation into Saakashvili’s disobedience to police. Two activists have been arrested but Saakashvili has been charged with an administrative offence.

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