MOSCOW, December 5. /TASS/. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented on Tuesday’s arrest of former Georgian leader and ex-Odessa Regional Governor Mikhail Saakashvili in Kiev, saying Moscow is not used to responding to remarks by "people who perch on rooftops."
"Kiev has surprised us once again and so has Saakashvili," Peskov told reporters. "He has a certain way with politics from eating his tie to climbing on roofs, he’s paved his way in politics and the road has been a bit rocky. Now he has gotten himself into a fix," Peskov pointed out.
"We are not accustomed to replying to the statements by people who perch on rooftops," he said when commenting on Saakashvili’s claims that Russian President Vladimir Putin had a role in allegedly plotting his "abduction."
"This is Ukraine’s headache and I wouldn't wish this upon an enemy," he said answering a question if Moscow is taking sides in Saakashvili’s standoff with Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko. He stressed that Russia does not view the Ukrainian people as its enemy.
Mikhail Saakashvili, the former Georgian president and ex-governor of Ukraine’s Odessa who now leads the Ukrainian opposition dubbed the Movement of New Forces, was detained in Kiev on Tuesday. The special forces removed the politician from the roof of his house where he climbed while trying to hide from the law enforcement agents who raided his house.
On Tuesday morning, Special Security Service (SBU) agents from its Alpha unit barged into the opposition figure’s apartment. Saakashvili’s supporters insisted that the authorities’ actions were illegal and demanded lawyers come to the scene. The special agents claimed they acted according to law.
The SBU later issued a statement saying that Saakashvili was charged with "complicity with members of criminal organizations and concealing their activity by providing premises and by other means." If found guilty, Saakashvili faces up to five years in prison.