The spokesman for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, Oleh Nikolenko, has denied a statement by the leader of the Georgian ruling party that ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili's return to Georgia was a special operation of Ukraine to involve Tbilisi in the war.
"Ukraine has never interfered and does not plan to interfere in the internal affairs of Georgia. Instead, we are deeply disappointed that the Georgian authorities are speculating on the topic of war in Ukraine in order to achieve their limited domestic political goals," Nikolenko said.
He noted that such allegations are spread by some Georgian politicians to absolve themselves of responsibility for gross human rights violations in Georgia.
The Foreign Ministry also stressed that the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, must be provided access to Mikheil Saakashvili, a former Ukrainian official.
"We also urge [Georgia] to provide the Ukrainian citizen with adequate medical care, as well as to satisfy the request to postpone his sentence in order to transfer him to one of the Ukrainian, Western European or American clinics for further treatment," Nikolenko concluded.
Yesterday President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the people and authorities of Georgia regarding the condition of Mikheil Saakashvili. The president called for mercy, especially on the eve of Christmas, as what is happening to Mikheil is a mockery that is not befitting Georgia and should be stopped, he said.