All news

Former Georgian President Saakashvili leaves Poland — media

Mikheil Saakashvili spent a few days in Poland after being stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship
Mikheil Saakashvili Archip Vereschagin/TASS
Mikheil Saakashvili
© Archip Vereschagin/TASS

WARSAW, August 8. /TASS/. Georgia’s former President and former Odessa Region Governor Mikheil Saakashvili, who spent a few days in Poland after being stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship, has left the territory of the republic, the Polish radio Zet reported on Tuesday.

"Mikheil Saakashvili, whom Georgia’s authorities are looking for, has left Poland," the radio station reported in a Twitter statement.

Earlier, Saakashvili informed that he planned to leave Poland on Monday. "I’ll be travelling across Europe," he told reporters, stressing that his ultimate goal was to return to Ukraine. It was not reported where Saakashvili had gone from Poland.

Mikheil Saakashvili arrived in Poland on August 4 to participate in the events dedicated to the 73th anniversary of the Warsaw uprising. He was reported to have used his Ukrainian passport while crossing the border. Ukraine’s security service and the republic’s border guard on the border with Poland declared an amber alert due to an assumption that Saakashvili might try to return to the Ukrainian territory.

On July 26, Ukraine’s migration service posted on its website information on removal of Ukraine’s citizenship from Saakashvili under President Pyotr Poroshenko’s order. The document itself was not released. The president’s administration stated that this was "confidential information." According to lawyers, Saakashvili will not be able to appeal the removal of his citizenship because the order was not published.

Meanwhile, Georgia’s Justice Ministry addressed Polish prosecutors, asking "to confirm that Mikheil Saakashvili is staying on Poland’s territory." On July 31, Georgia’s Justice Minister Tea Tsulukiani declared determination to demand Saakashvili’s extradition from any country chosen by the former president for stay. "If it is Ukraine, then we have procedures completed and all evidences that we had back in 2014-02015 presented to the Ukrainian side. As for other countries, for example the US, then in case the former president decides to stay there, we’ll need legal consultations with these countries, including talks and an extradition agreement," the minister said.