Saakashvili says he arrives in Poland from U.S. with Ukrainian passport

Former President of Georgia and ex-governor of Ukraine’s Odesa region Mikheil Saakashvili has said he entered Poland without any obstacles, using his Ukrainian passport.

“I think this passport, which I’m very proud of, is a serious thing […] I am not the only one who thinks the same way: I went to the airport in the United States, got on board the plane. They looked at my passport and didn’t ask any questions, although [Interior Minister Arsen] Avakov had invited the incumbent U.S. ambassador to warn that I am not allowed to leave the country by this passport since it is invalid. Then I came to Poland, they smiled and said: ‘You are welcome,” Saakashvili said at a meeting with members of the Warsaw Euromaidan group.

He posted a corresponding video on his Facebook page in the early hours of Monday, August 7.

He also demonstrated his foreign passport in the video.

Earlier, Saakashvili said that he had come from the United States to Poland without any hindrance, without resorting to diplomatic assistance: “They warned all border services, all the airlines, that I shouldn’t be let in […] I did not have any problems with departing from the United States. Although Avakov on the very first day called on, as far as I know from Americans, the U.S. deputy ambassador in Kyiv with a warning or with a demand not to let me leave the United States.”

It was reported on July 26, 2017, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko had issued a decree depriving Saakashvili of Ukrainian citizenship. The presidential office explained that Saakashvili’s citizenship had been revoked after it had turned out that he had mentioned incorrect information in his application for Ukrainian citizenship. The Commission on Citizenship Issues under the President of Ukraine voted for the termination of Saakashvili’s citizenship and recommended that the president take an appropriate decision.

The State Migration Service of Ukraine said on its website that materials concerning Saakashvili had been submitted by the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine.