A Storm in a Glass: Mikheil Saakashvili returns to Ukraine

UKRAINE - In Brief 12 Sep 2017 by Dmytro Boyarchuk

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I did not plan to disturb our readers with the story of Saakashvili return but developments appeared to be extremely noisy. So, at the end of July President Poroshenko deprived Mikheil Saakashvili, his former comrade, Ukrainian citizenship. The move did not make much sense since Saakashvili is not popular anymore. This decision looked more like personal revenge. Saakashvili promised to return to Ukraine whatever the consequences. ‘Great comeback’ was scheduled for September 10. Opposition leaders (like Yulia Tymoshenko) rushed to meet ‘victim of regime’ at the border. And show began… Firstly, Saakashvili tried to enter Ukraine on a train – the train was stopped. After that he went to another checkpoint trying to enter Ukraine on a bus. Again he was stopped by border guards. After few hours at the border Saakashvili supporters broke through the checkpoint and brought him to the Ukrainian territory. Officials immediately reacted that it was a break of law and all involved will be punished. In fact, it’s a big shame both for Mikheil Saakashvili and President Poroshenko to be a part of this scandal which reached headlines of western media. President Poroshenko behaves in a childish way trying to exclude his former comrade from political process (everyone understands that decision comes from President Office). And Mikheil Saakashvili also will not gain any political benefits arranging this noisy ‘comeback’. For Ukrainians this fuss is extremely irritating. Saakashvili as a leader of new revolution? No way! He is too comic for observers and his moves are too staging to make people believe that he is a new alternative. Both Saakashvili and Poroshenko are losing from this conf...