Video of emaciated Mikheil Saakashvili prompts standoff between Georgia and Ukraine

Get Free Georgia Updates

we will send you one myFT Daily Digest Latest Email Rounding Georgia News every morning.

A video of Georgia’s imprisoned former president Mikheil Saakashvili appearing emaciated during live-streamed court testimony has triggered a diplomatic standoff between Tbilisi and Kiev, which accused its traditional ally of acting at the behest of Russia. have put.

In response to Monday’s footage, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked the Georgian ambassador in Kiev to leave “within 48 hours” to consult with Tbilisi about transferring the former Georgian leader to Ukraine for medical treatment.

However, on Wednesday Irakli Kobakhidze, chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party, ruled out the possibility of such a transfer, saying there would be “no consultations” with Kiev.

He said Zelensky’s decision to send the Georgian ambassador to Ukraine back to Tbilisi to negotiate Saakashvili’s transfer was “regrettable and disrespectful”.

The escalation comes as relations between the two countries have soured significantly since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

In the first weeks of the war, thousands of Georgians took to the streets of Tbilisi to show support for Ukraine and dismay at the ruling Georgian Dream party’s decision not to join international sanctions against Russia.

Pro-West Saakashvili was arrested upon his return to Georgia in October 2021 after spending nearly a decade abroad – including a period as regional governor in Ukraine – and sentenced to six years for alleged abuse of office Went.

His deteriorating condition since being imprisoned has led to public outcry in Georgia and the West. Zelensky accused Russia of “murdering Saakashvili at the hands of Georgian authorities”, noting that the former Georgian president also holds Ukrainian citizenship.

Such allegations point to the founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party, Bidzina Ivanishvili, an oligarch who has presided over a more Russia-friendly stance and the dismantling of many of the country’s key democratic institutions.

“What we know is that the Georgian government is playing with (Saakashvili’s) health,” said Alexandre Craveaux-Astiani, foreign policy coordinator for Saakashvili’s party, the United National Movement (UNM).

“When (the government) needs a crisis, they undermine its health. There have been protests in front of the clinic where Saakashvili is being held, and UNM is trying to inform the international community as much as possible about what is happening, ”he said.

The treatment of Saakashvili, as well as efforts to pass Kremlin-inspired laws and further erode the independence of the judiciary, have cast a shadow over Georgia’s aspirations to join the European Union.

The Georgian government drew criticism from the bloc last month when it authorized Azimuth Airline, a Russian carrier that operates flights to Russia-held Crimea under Ukrainian sanctions, to start direct flights to and from Russia.

The European Commission last year put Georgia on the slow path to joining the EU, issuing a 12-point series of reforms that must be implemented before official candidate status can be granted. Ukraine and Moldova, which applied for membership along with Georgia, have already been granted candidate status.

President Salome Zourabichvili, who was elected in 2018 with the support of Georgian Dream, has the power to pardon Saakashvili. Two weeks ago, he took such a step in the case of a journalist who was jailed by his supporters on politically motivated charges.

Zourabichvili has repeatedly stated that she will not intervene in Saakashvili’s case, but many Georgians still hope she will change her mind. Zourabichvili is an outspoken supporter of the European Union and has come out in support of Ukraine, angering the government.

Craveaux-Astiani said, “I don’t think Zourabichvili will forgive Saakashvili.” “She has said more than once that she opposes the idea. But I always hope. We are in the opposition and hope so.