Georgia’s Former President Reportedly Stripped of Ukrainian Citizenship

Mikheil Saakashvili, Georgia’s Rose Revolution leader and former reformer president, has been stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship, according to reports.

On Wednesday, the Ukrainian news agency reported that Saakashvili had lost his Ukrainian citizenship, which was awarded to him on May 30, 2015, the same day Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko appointed him governor of Odessa. Georgian authorities revoked his citizenship from their country that same year.

Roughly a year and a half after the happy date of his Odessan appointment, on Nov. 7, 2016, Saakashvili resigned from that post, saying he was stepping down because Ukraine’s leaders failed to rein corruption and out of disgust for the wealth Ukrainian politicians were accumulating. Some suspected he had plans to launch a new political party.

But if he had grand political designs for Ukraine, they would not be realized. Shortly after Saakashvili’s resignation, Poroshenko announced his intention to cancel his one-time ally’s citizenship. And, as of Wednesday, Saakashvili is apparently no longer a citizen of Ukraine.

The reason given for the loss of citizenship is that the man known to many as “Misha” evidently provided false information when applying for it in the first place — in the questionnaire provided to get his passport in 2015, Saakashvili wrote that he was not under investigation in Ukraine or elsewhere. Georgian authorities, however, had issued a warrant for his arrest (in absentia). (He is wanted on charges related to acts he committed as president. Saakashvili maintains the charges are politically motivated. The ruling party, Georgian Dream, has indeed positioned itself squarely against Saakashvili.)

The news comes but hours after Saakashvili tweeted that Ukrainian authorities had themselves to blame for President Donald Trump’s tweets accusing them of interfering in the U.S. presidential election on behalf of his opponent, Hillary Clinton.

President Trump's tweet on Ukraine – heavy price Ukraine has to pay for its leadership's incompetence and murky games — Mikheil Saakashvili (@SaakashviliM) July 26, 2017

It was not immediately clear whether Saakashvili has citizenship from some other country (his wife, Sandra Roelofs, is a citizen of the Netherlands), or if the man who once ruled a state is now without one entirely.

Photo credit: SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP/Getty Images