Saakashvili leaves Poland for Lithuania
Former Odessa governor Mikheil Saakashvili, stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship, continues to move freely around the world. He was in Lithuania on Tuesday.
“It is always nice to be in brotherly Lithuania, especially among the friends and founders of Lithuanian independence: Vytautas Landsbergis, ministers, members of the government and presidential candidates. I thanked the Lithuanians for supporting Ukraine and Georgia, and I am also very grateful for the position taken up regarding my citizenship,” Saakashvili wrote on Facebook.
Lithuanian Member of European Parliament Pyatras Aushtryavichyus proposed that Saakashvili be granted Lithuanian citizenship. However, Saakashvili told the local media that he does not intend to renounce his Ukrainian passport.
“I must get the Ukrainian citizenship back, it was taken away illegally. Many Ukrainians are appalled and will feel abandoned if I don’t fight for them,” the politician said.
On July 26, President Petro Poroshenko revoked Saakashvili’s Ukrainian citizenship. Saakashvili was in the US at the time. On August 4 he flew to Poland with a Ukrainian passport.
Saakashvili’s Georgian passport was taken away at the end of 2015.