The former Georgian president and leader of the Movement of New Forces political party, Mikheil Saakashvili, has said he has challenged in court President Petro Poroshenko's decree to strip him of Ukrainian citizenship.
He announced this at a rally outside the Ukrainian parliament in Kyiv.
"I appealed against the president's decree to strip me of citizenship. If some of you want to go to the court with me, let us go together to remind them that I am not alone," he said.
"I want this citizenship not to run for any posts. I guarantee that this will not happen. We will find new Ukrainians who will be able to lift this state," he said.
Saakashvili was granted Ukrainian citizenship in late May 2015 to enable his appointment as head of the Odesa regional state administration.
In November 2016, he resigned. In the summer 2017, Poroshenko terminated Saakashvili's Ukrainian citizenship on the formal ground that he had provided false information in his application for citizenship.