Georgia Summons Ukrainian Envoy Over Saakashvili’s Call for Violence

The Georgian Foreign Ministry summoned Ukraine’s charge d’affaires Georgii Nazarov on Friday to complain about the recent call for violence that came from Odessa governor and former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili.

TBILISI (Sputnik) — Last week, Ukrainian media leaked wiretapped recordings of phone calls between the head of a Georgia-based television and Saakashvili, now a Ukrainian national, where the politician urged channel staff to barricade inside their Tbilisi office and ultimately start a confrontation with authorities, in a revolutionary scenario.

The Georgian foreign office shared its concern with the Ukrainian diplomat about the Ukrainian governor’s remarks that, it said, "contain dangerous calls that pose threat to Georgia’s security and stability."

Tbilisi emphasized that such calls interfered with the country’s domestic affairs and undermined friendly relations between the partner countries, which are Ukraine and Georgia.

Saakashvili served as Georgia's president from 2004 to 2013. He was barred from running for president again in 2013, and left for the United States before eventually coming to Ukraine, where he was granted citizenship in spring 2015. Georgian laws do not allow dual citizenship.

In 2014, a Georgian court charged Saakashvili with abuse of power and misappropriation of public funds. Georgia has repeatedly asked Ukraine to extradite him.