Ex-President of Georgia officially appointed head of Odessa regional administration

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has presented in Odessa the ex-president of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili as the new head of the Odessa regional administration.

Let us remind you that the above appointment was announced on May 29; and the presentation of Saakashvili in his new position was scheduled for today, May 30.

While presenting the new governor today in Odessa, President Poroshenko said that Saakashvili "has proved to be a person knowing how to implement creative ideas."

Mikhail Saakashvili himself said that he "wants to make Odessa the capital of the Black Sea", the Ukrainian portal UNN reports.

The decrees on granting Ukrainian citizenship to Saakashvili and appointing him to head the Odessa regional administration have been posted today on the website of the President of Ukraine.

Let us remind you that Georgia filed several charges against Mikhail Saakashvili in absentia, including abuse of power and embezzlement of budgetary funds under investigations into the dispersal of the opposition rally in November 2007, the beating of MP Valery Gelashvili, and the murder of banker Sandro Girgvliani. The Prosecutor's Office of Georgia demanded from Ukraine to extradite Mikhail Saakashvili; however, the Ukrainian General Prosecutor's Office refused to extradite him. Mikhail Saakashvili himself has called criminal proceedings against him in his homeland a political persecution.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.