TBILISI: Georgia on Friday stripped former leader and reformer Mikheil Saakashvili of his citizenship as he had acquired a Ukrainian passport to serve as governor of the strategic Odessa region.
“Based on the law on Georgian citizenship, President Giorgi Margvelashvili signed a decree terminating Mikheil Saakashvili’s citizenship due to his acquisition of a foreign country’s nationality,” Margvelashvili’s press service said in a statement.
The move is purely a legal formality as the Georgian constitution forbids dual nationality.
The May appointment of the fervently pro-Western Saakashvili as head of Ukraine’s Black Sea region was a pointed signal from Kiev to Moscow that it remains set on its pro-European course despite a bloody separatist conflict in the east blamed on the Kremlin. Georgia meanwhile has issued an arrest warrant for Saakashvili on abuse of power charges that he insists are politically motivated.
Georgia revokes ex-president’s citizenship
Georgia revokes ex-president’s citizenship
