Saakashvili latest news. Educational confrontation with Hungary

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Mikheil Saakashvili became the main newsmaker of the second half of 2017

The main source of political scandals in 2017 was the confrontation between the authorities and Mikheil Saakashvili, as well as NABU's attempts to accuse influential officials and politicians of corruption.

The Ukrainian law enforcement system tried to resist the former president of Georgia. This even led to a chill in relations between the President and Interior Minister Arsen Avakov.

The active work of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau at the end of 2017 led not only to internal political scandals, but also to a serious aggravation in the negotiations between Ukraine and Western partners.

Saakashvili's problem

In the first half of 2017, the dismissed governor of the Odessa region, Mikheil Saakashvili, did not enjoy much influence in the country's political life.

He created the Movement of New Forces party, but did not attract much attention to himself, except that he sharply criticized President Petro Poroshenko on the ZIK TV channel.

However, at the end of July 2017, Petro Poroshenko issued a decree depriving Saakashvili of Ukrainian citizenship. This decision led to a number of political scandals.

The world media again drew attention to Saakashvili, who at that time was in the United States.

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How Saakashvili crossed the Ukrainian border

The Ukrainian authorities promised not to let him into Ukraine, but they failed to do so. Mikheil Saakashvili gathered several thousand supporters and on September 10, 2017 managed to break through the Ukrainian-Polish border.

And on October 17, Saakashvili gathered an opposition rally in Kiev, after which his supporters set up a tent camp near the Verkhovna Rada, which still stands there.

• Saakashvili's "Breakthrough": What's Next?
• Storming of Oktyabrsky: Saakashvili disassociated himself, comrades-in-arms and the West condemned
• The court refused to send Saakashvili under house arrest

Since late November, Mikheil Saakashvili has organized weekly marches to impeach Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, the last of which ended in an attempt to storm the October Palace.

On December 5, the SBU fighters tried to detain Saakashvili. He was accused of allegedly preparing a coup d'état sponsored by the oligarch Sergei Kurchenko, who fled to Moscow.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption During the breakthrough of the border, Yulia Tymoshenko accompanied Saakashvili, later she distanced herself from the scandalous politician

However, supporters of the former president of Georgia managed to recapture their leader from the security forces. On December 8, the police again detained Mikheil Saakashvili, later the court released him on bail of the deputies.

The failure of the law enforcement agencies to oppose the plans of Mikheil Saakashvili caused a certain cooling in the relations between the President and the Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov.

As they said on the sidelines of the parliament, the president reproached Avakov for the fact that his subordinates could not stop the breakthrough of Saakashvili's border, and then prevent the erection of tents near the parliament building.

A close associate of Avakov, Anton Gerashchenko, confirmed a certain tension in relations between the president and the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but later the officials allegedly found mutual understanding.

"Victims of NABU"

Almost the entire 2017 was marked by high-profile anti-corruption cases of NABU against far from the last people in the Ukrainian government.

The first high-profile criminal event of the year was the arrest of the then head of the State Fiscal Service, Roman Nasirov.

The official represented the presidential party and his detention became a top topic for several weeks.

• Nasirov released from jail on bail

He was accused of granting tax deferrals to the companies of the deputy Alexander Onishchenko, who fled Ukraine after a number of cases were brought against him.

Nasirov was taken to court with difficulties, but the scandal reached its peak when the official was chosen a preventive measure. In the end, Nasirov was released on bail of 100 million hryvnias, and the consideration of the case was postponed to the end of 2017.

Image copyright UNIAN Image caption Nasirov's blankets, which he used to hide in the hospital and in the courtroom, became legendary.

In the spring of 2017, NABU also hit one of the most influential representatives of the Popular Front team, Nikolai Martynenko.

• Nikolay Martynenko: from "dear friends" to Yatsenyuk

Almost all representatives of the party in the government came to defend the politician when choosing a preventive measure. As a result, the official was released on bail.

In the summer of 2017, Ukraine was stirred up by another scandal related to the NABU investigation.

Undercover agents of the bureau managed to document a corruption scheme for the extraction of amber allegedly organized by the deputies from the BPP and the "Popular Front" Borislav Rosenblat and Maxim Polyakov.

• Backpacks of discord: will NABU quarrel with Poroshenko and Avakov?

The Verkhovna Rada even supported the proposal of the prosecutor's office about permission to bring them to criminal responsibility, but the case has not yet reached the court.

Image copyright ALEX AVAKOV Image caption NABU accuses Arsen Avakov's son Alexander (right) of involvement in embezzlement of public funds

In the fall, NABU detectives detained Deputy Defense Minister Igor Pavlovsky on suspicion of embezzling budget funds in the amount of UAH 150 million.

And the most high-profile case of the fall was the arrest of the son of the Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov, Alexander.

He was accused of participating in a scheme to steal funds spent on the purchase of backpacks for the National Guard. The investigation of these criminal cases is ongoing.

Conflict between NABU and GPU

In late November, a real war broke out between the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the General Prosecutor's Office.

Undercover detectives from the bureau were investigating a case of possible bribery at the state migration service, as well as the illegal sale of Ukrainian passports.

The agents allegedly recorded a number of corrupt actions, but on November 29 the GPU and SBU officers detained them while trying to bribe the first deputy head of the State Migration Service Dina Pimakhova.

Image copyright NABU Image caption NABU accused GPU of disrupting large-scale anti-corruption investigation

Then NABU announced the arrest of a number of its detectives and the disruption of the anti-corruption operation.

Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko accused NABU of illegal actions, since the provocation of a bribe in Ukraine is prohibited by law.

At the same time, the prosecutor's office released the personal data of a number of undercover NABU agents.

• #SaveNabu: will it be possible to preserve the independence of the anti-corruption bureau?
• Detention of a NABU agent: war on corruption or anti-corruption?

Representatives of the embassies of a number of Western countries and the United States, who supported NABU, actually intervened in the scandal.

The political confrontation was gaining momentum - at the suggestion of the pro-government factions on December 7, the Verkhovna Rada planned to amend the law on the work of NABU. In particular, allow the parliament to dismiss the director of NABU by a simple vote.

However, after the direct intervention of Ukraine's Western partners, including the IMF, this idea was abandoned.

Long-awaited visa-free

It should be noted that attempts to weaken NABU's independence did not go unnoticed.

Image caption From June 11, citizens of Ukraine can travel to the EU without visas

And this could potentially lead to the launch of a mechanism to suspend the visa-free regime with the EU, which Ukraine finally received in the summer of 2017.

In an interview with Yevropeiskaya Pravda, French Ambassador to Ukraine Isabelle Dumont said that the authorities' attempt to reduce the independence of NABU put visa-free travel with the EU at risk.

The Ukrainian authorities promised to abolish the visa regime with the EU from 2015, but the implementation of the EU requirements was very slow, so this process was significantly delayed.

• Visa-free: where and how can you go inexpensively?

The EU recognized Ukraine's fulfillment of all requirements in December 2015. However, due to the migration crisis, the implementation of visa-free travel was suspended.

During the Ukraine-EU summit in November 2016, Ukraine was made clear that the abolition of the visa-free regime was postponed until after the presidential elections in France in May 2017. And so it happened - visa-free operation was launched on June 11, 2017.

However, the EU has introduced a mechanism to suspend it if Ukraine violates the requirements for its provision, including in the field of combating corruption.

Educational confrontation with Hungary

In the fall of 2017, one of the biggest scandals broke out between Ukraine and its western neighbors.

On September 5, the Verkhovna Rada approved an educational reform and changed the model of using the languages ​​of national minorities in the learning process.

Hungary reacted sharply to this decision, whose community of many thousands lives compactly in several districts of the Transcarpathian region.

• Law on education: where language passions will lead in Transcarpathia
• Ministry of Education and Science: Venice Commission supported the need for better learning of the Ukrainian language

In many schools in the region, the main language of instruction is Hungarian, and Ukrainian is taught there only as a separate subject. Many ethnic Hungarians leave school without speaking Ukrainian.

The amendments adopted in the law provide that from the 5th grade, children will begin to study in the state language, and the language of a national minority will be studied as a separate discipline.

The transition period for this was determined until 2020.

Image copyright UKRINFORM Image caption Hungary and Ukraine quarreled over the issue of training Transcarpathian Hungarians

Official Budapest harshly criticized such changes, calling them "a knife in the back."

The Hungarian leaders promised to block all integration aspirations and cooperation of Ukraine with the EU and NATO, delivering a clear ultimatum to amend the adopted law.

Ukraine refused to change the law and sent the language article of the law on education for examination to the Venice Commission, which nevertheless advised to amend the wording and extend the transition period.

Ukraine is already preparing a draft decision, taking into account the conclusions of the commission, in order to establish a dialogue with Hungary, which has not yet changed its ultimatum position.

"War of Monuments"

In parallel with the language disputes with Hungary, a political scandal erupted with Poland. It was caused by the so-called "war of monuments".

In the past few years, attacks on "places of remembrance" of Ukrainians and Poles have become more frequent on the territory of both states.

Mostly these places are associated with the fighters for the independence of Poland and Ukraine in the border areas of the two countries.

This became a kind of continuation of the historical disputes between the countries about the activities of the UPA and the "Volyn tragedy".

• How will the "historical crisis" between Ukraine and Poland end?
• Ambassador Deschitsa: Poland must understand Ukraine's position

And if from the Ukrainian side the authorities condemn and investigate the attacks, then from the Polish side some memorial signs to the UPA fighters were demolished by the decision of officials.

Therefore, in the spring of 2017, the situation once again worsened: the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance and its Polish colleagues were unable to resolve the issue of Ukrainian and Polish monuments.

The Polish side refused to legalize the burial places of UPA soldiers on its territory.

In November, Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski said in an interview with the media that the Polish authorities "will not allow people demonstrating extremely anti-Polish views to enter Poland."

Image copyright President.gov.ua Image caption Petro Poroshenko and Andrzej Duda tried to settle historical disputes between the countries

At the same time, he hinted that Poland might stop being Ukraine's "advocate" in the EU. Subsequently, Poland prepared a list of Ukrainian citizens whose stay in Poland is undesirable.

A flurry of harsh statements by the Polish leadership jeopardized the visit of the Polish president to Ukraine planned for the end of the year, and experts started talking about the possible loss of Kiev one of the most reliable allies in the EU.

However, at the end of the year, the voltage level was reduced. First, representatives of the presidents of both countries met in Krakow, and in December, President Duda nevertheless arrived in Kharkov and met with Petro Poroshenko.

The parties agreed to unblock the process of legalizing places of memory and find a compromise, however, a fundamental difference in the views of the Ukrainian and Polish sides on the UPA and the "Volyn tragedy" remained.

“Sochi was then the real capital of Georgia, wherever you look - Georgians are everywhere. I remember our trips to the mountains, fireplaces, monstrously huge kebabs, the smell of burning meat and onions, and how the Georgians tried to drink me - the beautiful Russian husband - to drink. I am proud that they never managed to get me drunk, my iron body at that time defeated all their efforts. Years passed, eight years later, in 1992, the Georgians fired at me in Abkhazia with artillery volleys on Mount Vereshchagin. I was on the side of the Abkhaz. Why? Because they wanted to return the Abkhaz to the Georgian Empire, and the Abkhaz did not want that. "

“As you know, the rally was dispersed. The problem remains, and the credibility of the Georgian Dream is inevitably undermined. This is where the fun begins. According to one version, Bidzina Ivanishvili dreams of keeping power in his hands for the third political cadence in a row. This has never happened in the history of Georgia. I would not say that this is some kind of exceptional democracy of the people: it is just that under no government, be it Gamsakhurdia, Shevardnadze, Saakashvili or Ivanishvili, has there been a clear qualitative leap for the better in the life of Georgians. "

• “Even if in some unnatural way the opposition again seizes power in Georgia, how are they going to feed the country? The times when various Western foundations and even large states generously paid for Russophobia in the post-Soviet space are over. It’s not that they don’t pay at all, but it’s metered, and it’s not enough for the whole country. Even the Baltic limitrophes do not have enough, what to say about Georgia and Moldova ”.

  Police in Tbilisi began to disperse demonstrators blocking access to the parliament building. Special forces use tear gas and water cannons. Since the morning of November 18, supporters of opposition parties have not allowed deputies from the ruling Georgian Dream to enter their workplaces. The protesters demanded to amend the Constitution and change the electoral system in the country from mixed to proportional. Back in the summer of 2019, the leader of the Georgian Dream, Bidzina Ivanishvili, promised to adopt the relevant amendments. However, on November 14, the bill did not receive the necessary support in parliament, after which protests began in the country.

  The former president of Georgia, ex-governor of the Odessa region, Mikhail Saakashvili, announced that he would file a complaint with the Prosecutor General's Office regarding his "abduction and illegal expulsion from Ukraine" carried out on the "personal order" of Petro Poroshenko.

  “The promise to return is something of an innocent hobby for a person who considers himself a political émigré. I, frankly, did not check, but it seems that it is in the habit of throwing speeches about returning and immersion in political life in Saakashvili's homeland during the period of seasonal and climatic changes. The nature of these statements is associated with some of the mental characteristics of the aforementioned character. "

  Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili announced that he would return to his homeland ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections in the country in the fall of 2020 to "deal with the oligarch" Bidzina Ivanishvili, chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream - Democratic Georgia party.

  Tbilisi and Moscow should conduct a dialogue to resolve existing problems, Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili told reporters. So she commented on the talks between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Georgian counterpart David Zalkaliani on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. The politician explained that Tbilisi has abandoned the "path of war" and is ready to speak the language of diplomacy. Earlier, the meeting of the heads of the foreign ministries was positively assessed by a number of Georgian ministers. According to experts, Zurabishvili is betting on a multi-vector policy, including dialogue with the Russian Federation, while the ruling Georgian Dream party seeks to establish ties with Moscow, which worsened in the summer amid anti-Russian protests.

  Moscow has no plans to “recreate the USSR,” stressed Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the Russian president. So he commented on the reports of the Georgian media, which quoted ex-President Saakashvili. He said that Vladimir Putin allegedly has a plan to unite Georgia, Armenia, Moldova, Belarus and part of Ukraine. The State Duma noted that the statements of the Georgian politician should be viewed as attempts to remind oneself after disappearing from the information field. In their opinion, Saakashvili resorts to the "Russian threat" argument in the absence of "political baggage".

The former president of Georgia, ex-governor of the Odessa region, Mikhail Saakashvili, on the air of the 112.ua TV channel called on the citizens of Ukraine to go on vacation to Georgia instead of the Russians. He promised to talk with the leadership of Georgian airlines and tour operators so that they would lower prices ...

07.06.2019

Political scientist Rostislav Ischenko told the Ukraina.ru edition why the mayor of Kiev Vitaly Klitschko needs to unite with the ex-president of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili. The corresponding video was published on the youtube-channel of the site Ukraine.ru. The UDAR party, whose leader is Vitali Klitschko, will participate in parliamentary ...

05.06.2019

The return of Ukrainian citizenship to Mikhail Saakashvili means that he will actively try to return to the political life of this country. But, this is hardly included in the plans of Zelensky and those who are behind him. Saakashvili is too scandalous, except ...

02.06.2019

The former president of Georgia, ex-governor of the Odessa region, Mikhail Saakashvili, said on the air of the NewsOne TV channel that at the moment Ukraine cannot even be called an “agrarian appendage” of Europe. “They say Ukraine has turned into an agrarian appendage. It is true, in Ukraine, technological cycles are everywhere ...

29.05.2019

Former Georgian leader returned to hunt Poroshenko. But he has enough other enemies “It would be fair to return the Ukrainian passport to a person who in the past was a Georgian, but today considers himself a Ukrainian - I mean ...

29.05.2019

Russian and Ukrainian political scientists Nikolai Platoshkin and Alexander Semchenko argued on the air of the program "60 minutes" on the TV channel "Russia 1" about the ex-president of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili. Platoshkin welcomed the decision of Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky to return Saakashvili's citizenship ...

28.05.2019

Mikhail Saakashvili will return to Ukraine tomorrow, May 29. At 17.00 he will be met at the Boryspil airport, according to Facebook on the page of the Movement of New Forces, whose leader is Saakashvili. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky this afternoon by his decree returned the citizenship of the country to Saakashvili, ...

28.05.2019

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has returned citizenship to former Georgian leader Mikhail Saakashvili, follows from the decree on the website of the head of state. On the eve of the Internet edition "Strana.ua", citing a source, wrote that the former president of Georgia could return to Ukraine on May 31. By…

19.05.2019

Former Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said that Zelensky should forget about bilateral negotiations with Russia, and also focus on fighting Poroshenko. He told about this on the air of the Ukrainian TV channel "NASH". According to him, Ukraine ...

29.04.2019

Former head of the Georgian state, Mikhail Saakashvili, after the appeal of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Kiev to return Ukrainian citizenship to the Georgian-Ukrainian politician, remembered how he was “oppressed” by Russia. Putin said on Monday that it would be fair to return ...

29.04.2019

Russian President Vladimir Putin believes that it would be fair to return the Ukrainian passport to the ex-president of Georgia and the former head of the Odessa region, Mikhail Saakashvili, and restore his violated rights. Last week, Putin signed a decree on simplified ...

30.03.2019

Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, in an interview with Gordon, explained why he chewed his tie on television during the 2008 conflict in South Ossetia. “I didn't know that I was on the air….

17.03.2019

The topic of the Russian threat unexpectedly received a new development. For the fifth anniversary of the return of Crimea to Russia, the former president of Georgia and the former governor of the Odessa region, Mikhail Saakashvili, named new goals for Russian expansion. We must pay tribute to his efforts - ...

13.03.2019

According to Mikhail Saakashvili, in 2014 Poroshenko told him that Kiev should get used to the idea that Crimea will remain in Russia. Saakashvili does not believe in Poroshenko's victory in the new elections and is ready to return ...

22.02.2019

Modern epigones of the Nazis of the early twentieth century seem to deliberately seek to undermine the credibility of their own ideology. To begin with, the overwhelming majority of them willingly use the symbols of the German Nazis, not only without being “true ...

29.10.2018

Moscow has withdrawn from influence on the politics of the Transcaucasian republic In the presidential elections in Georgia, none of the candidates was able to gain a majority. The second round is ahead. Self-nominated candidate Salome Zurabishvili, who is supported by the ruling Georgian Dream party and Grigol Vashadze, candidate from the United National ...

Former President of Georgia, Former Governor of Odessa Region Mikhail Saakashvili said he had a plan that would change Ukraine in 70 days.

“We have two main plans. The first is to gather people who will create a Ukrainian parliamentary majority. It is very important. And the second plan is the “70 days” plan: how to change Ukraine in five session weeks. If Ukraine is not changed in five session weeks, then it will never be changed, ”the politician said during a press conference in Lviv.

"This is a law on oligarchs, this is a tax cut, this is a rejection of 80% of all administrative regulations, this is a new system of health care and education, this is a completely new system of administrative relations, this is the abolition of regional administrations," the ex-president of Georgia briefly went through the points.

Let us explain: the day before, on September 12, Saakashvili in Lviv peacefully signed a protocol on the commission of an administrative offense - illegal border crossing. An employee of the State Border Service of Ukraine who was present at the same time said that the consideration of the case would begin on September 18 in the Mostis District Court of the Lviv Region.

And then Saakashvili made another unexpected move.

“And until September 18 - if some more obstacles do not make me - I will begin my trip to Ukraine. From tomorrow, I will start meetings in all regions of Ukraine, ”the former Georgian leader announced.

And now, a day later, the intrigue continues to twist: on the tour, Saakashvili will personally present the "70 days" plan, and at the same time gain political points.

Note: it took Saakashvili's team years to reform Georgia, a country with a population of 3.7 million. And the Georgian politician is going to reform the 42 millionth Ukraine in a little over two months.

It is clear that the “70 days” plan is extremely populist and will never be implemented. But Saakashvili doesn't need this. Most importantly, the plan allows the ex-leader of Georgia to play against Kiev. The big mistakes you've made lately President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, they revived the leading Ukrainian politicians who occupied the opposition niche against him, and for some time made the ex-president of Georgia the “assembly point” of the opposition forces. Now, one must think, Saakashvili will try to squeeze the maximum possible out of the current situation.

What is behind the “70 days” plan, what is Mikheil Saakashvili counting on when going on a tour of Ukraine?

Mikhail Saakashvili is full of illusions, he believes that the dissatisfaction with Kiev among the population is such that people will fall for any decisive criticism of the authorities, - notes Mikhail Pogrebinsky, director of the Kiev Center for Political Studies and Conflictology... “But, of course, it is impossible to radically reform Ukraine in 70 days, as the Georgian ex-leader says.

I will note that some of his proposals are rational and correct, but at the same time extremely naive. First of all, because the current composition of the Verkhovna Rada will not support a single point of Saakashvili's plan. It turns out that in order to implement the plan, a different parliament is needed, with different attitudes. But to get such a Verkhovna Rada - based on polls of Ukrainian public opinion - is impossible today.

In my opinion, the "70 days" plan is just an attempt by Saakashvili to remain in big politics, without any prospects for implementation.

"SP": - What points of the plan do you consider rational?

First of all, it is easier to obtain administrative services, as was done during the reforms in Georgia. I will note that they are trying to repeat some of what happened in Georgia in Ukraine, but the progress is extremely sluggish, and is limited by grassroots corruption.

In Georgia, by the way, high-level corruption flourished under Saakashvili. But at the grassroots level, it really did manage to be defeated. First of all, due to the specific features of a small country with an extremely low standard of living.

So, in pre-reform Georgia, traffic police officers received a salary of $ 30 a month. When, in the process of reforming the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the police are financed by an American financier George Soros- raised the salary to $ 300, they were happy. At first, Georgian law enforcement officers held on to this money so that they completely refused any form of bribes. However, now, according to my information, the situation is back to square one.

According to a similar scenario, events were unfolding in Georgia in other areas, primarily those related to serving the population.

In Ukraine, I emphasize, they tried to repeat this experience, but to no avail.

There is another rational point in Saakashvili's plan: what he calls "the law on oligarchs." We are talking about demonopolization, and this is the right direction. Another thing is that it is impossible to end monopoly in Ukraine quickly - one can only systematically try to destroy the current system.

As you can see, Saakashvili's plan looks like a set of populist statements with elements of what is reasonable and necessary.

"SP": - Saakashvili says that plan number 1 is to create a new Ukrainian parliamentary majority. He hopes for early elections to the Verkhovna Rada?

It is unrealistic to "tilt" the current composition of the parliament to the proposals of Saakashvili, but the next composition - in theory - can be anything you like. To replace the parliament, early elections are needed. But in Ukraine, all the levers to launch such elections are in the hands of the president.

If Poroshenko doesn't want early parliamentary elections (and he doesn't want that), getting him to take such a step is a big problem. You can, of course, block the rostrum in the Rada, declare that the current parliament is not fulfilling its functions. But why on earth would the deputies who sit in the current parliament do this ?!

Saakashvili has neither a majority nor even an influential minority in the parliament. Therefore, the scenario described above is unrealistic.

Yes, if the dynamics of Saakashvili's rating develops positively, his party - hypothetically - can break into the next parliament. But I find it hard to imagine that even this will lead to the emergence of a reformist majority in the Rada.

Finally, there is a major hurdle. Everything that Mikheil Saakashvili offers and wants rests on a fundamental thing that he is not ready to change. The ex-president of Georgia is strongly anti-Russian. Meanwhile, without a turn towards common sense in relations with Russia, no reforms can give an economic impetus to the development of Ukraine.

Saakashvili, with all his talk, is not in the mood for such a turn. And any hopes for the transformation of Ukraine from the standpoint of radical Russophobia, which he shares, are simply unrealistic - I am absolutely convinced of this.

SP: - In your opinion, is Saakashvili still gaining political points after the “breakthrough” of the border, or is he starting to run out of steam?

Saakashvili has already admitted that he and Yulia Tymoshenko- different roads. And this means that the anti-Poroshenko coalition is still not taking shape. And the party of Saakashvili himself, I think, has no chances to become an influential political force in the "independent".

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Just over an hour ago, the country's Prosecutor General's Office asked the national police to put Mikhail Saakashvili on the wanted list. In the morning they already came for him. On the roof of his house, the security forces were clearly not chasing a ghost. And it didn’t promise to fly away from the eighth floor. And it was not a ghost who then returned, having broken down the door of a police van, to a rally in the center of Kiev.

Mikheil Saakashvili speaks at an evening rally in front of the Verkhovna Rada. The picture is already familiar - he has been organizing protests in Kiev since October. But this rally is special. A few hours ago it was difficult to imagine that Saakashvili would come to this rostrum today. In the morning he looked much paler.

Early in the morning they knocked at apartment 32, building 7 on Kostelnaya Street, facing the Maidan: the ex-governor of the Odessa region and the ex-president of Georgia did not even have time to comb their hair. Apparently, Saakashvili refused to open it. Or his colleague David Sakvarelidze, who wrote on Facebook that Saakashvili’s door was being broken down, exaggerated the colors.

Be that as it may, the intelligence officers managed to get into the apartment. And Saakashvili somehow managed to get out onto the roof, and even grab a bottle of water with him. From there, from the rooftop, the ex-citizen of Georgia and Ukraine made a virtually keynote speech.

“Poroshenko is a thief! Poroshenko is a traitor to the people of Ukraine! " - said the ex-governor of the Odessa region.

Saakashvili was clearly not going to speak, so he spoke briefly, succinctly and to the point. What is typical - in Russian. When you are about to be seized and arrested, it’s not time to make a choice, to have time to say everything, even in an unloved language. At the bottom, meanwhile, gathered an impressive crowd of supporters of the speaker. Saakashvili sent beams of support: “Misha! We are with you!"

And the SBU officers, who blocked the entrance to the entrance, persuaded to let the ex-governor's lawyers go upstairs to the apartment. Inspired by the support, Saakashvili threatened to jump off the roof if any of the SBU officers touched him, and continued to convey his truth to the people. It turned out that not only Kiev was to blame for the persecution of him, but also the omnipresent hand of Moscow: Saakashvili agreed that Poroshenko was acting on Putin's decree.

“They are in cahoots with the enemies of Ukraine! This is the fulfillment of Putin's order! " - shouted Mikheil Saakashvili.

In the meantime, the apartment was being searched - as explained in the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office, "within the framework of criminal proceedings." What - they did not say right away. Rumors spread that the case of the financing of the opposition protests was allegedly involved in the people of former President Yanukovych. They were later confirmed by the Attorney General.

“We have identified the cooperation of a number of politicians, first of all Saakashvili, with members of Yanukovych's criminal group, primarily Sergei Kurchenko. For their money, Mikheil Saakashvili and his associates financed protest actions organized by them, the purpose of which was to seize power in Ukraine, ”said Yuriy Lutsenko, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine.

Saakashvili's arrest was spectacular. He still allowed himself to be touched and did not jump from the roof, but everyone had to balance at the height. Downstairs, meanwhile, one of the supporters tried to arrange an act of self-immolation. He was barely stopped. And then the most incredible thing began. Saakashvili was taken to a pre-trial detention center, but he was never taken. His supporters did not allow to drive away for a long time, blocked the road, causing an accident. Someone in a car without license plates tried to ram the escort car. A lady broke the glass of a police car with a stone.

Barricades were erected on the street - not abstract ones to express a protest, but purely applied ones to prevent the passage. Clashes with special forces periodically broke out, and it came to tear gas. And the final apotheosis: the crowd drives back the security forces and rescues the prisoner from the car! Inspired and not yet taking off his handcuffs, Saakashvili, shaking his shackles, immediately announces a campaign against the authorities.

At the evening rally, however, there were half the number of people who beat Saakashvili off the security forces. It's a paradox, but in the active phase of confrontation with the authorities, which Saakashvili has been announcing since October, the opposition was introduced by the authorities by an attempt to arrest its leader. And the government itself is so toothless that Saakashvili easily turned the situation in his favor.

“Today he has once again shown that his energy is sufficient to humiliate the Ukrainian state, the president, and the security forces, showing that they cannot even detain him. They detained him, then the crowd pulled him out. And this, of course, is a serious blow to the reputation of Poroshenko and the Ukrainian state, ”explains political analyst Mikhail Pogrebinsky.

The blow is far from the first. What is the epic entrance to Ukraine of the same Saakashvili, who was brought into the country by his associates. Across the guarded border, no documents.

Or here is a completely fresh story, the day before: in Mariupol, the scandalous deputy Parasyuk enters the courthouse and hits the policeman in the ear with a sweep: he didn’t like the fact that he was filming the protocol. A criminal case has been initiated; in social networks, they are already sarcastically guessing under what pretext it will be closed.

And one more cherry on this Kiev cake: while Saakashvili spoke at an evening rally near the walls of the Rada, the Prosecutor General's Office broke the silence for the first time after he left arrest. Saakashvili was put on the wanted list. Indeed, where could he be?