How Mikheil Saakashvili once again caused a quarrel between Kyiv and Tbilisi

Kyiv imposed sanctions against a Georgian airline and effectively expelled the Georgian ambassador. While Georgia is trying to avoid confrontation, Ukraine is exacerbating it, says expert Mikheil Saakashvili (on screen).

Why Kyiv sent the Georgian ambassador to Tbilisi

On July 4, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on the instructions of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, summoned the Georgian Ambassador to Kyiv, Georgiy Zakarashvili, to express "a strong protest in connection with the significant deterioration in the health of Ukrainian citizen Mikheil Saakashvili, who is imprisoned in Georgia."

"The Georgian diplomat was informed that such treatment of Mikheil Saakashvili is absolutely unacceptable. Georgian authorities must stop torturing a Ukrainian citizen," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry's website states. Ukrainian authorities "invited Zakarashvili to return to Tbilisi for consultations" to find ways to resolve the situation. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry emphasized its readiness to discuss transporting Saakashvili to Ukraine to ensure his medical treatment and care.

The summons of the Georgian ambassador came as no surprise. The day before, on July 3, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba stated that "there would be a tough conversation," after which Zakarashvili would "go to Georgia." This statement came after Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted about the former Georgian president on his Telegram channel .

"Right now, Russia, through the Georgian authorities, is killing Ukrainian citizen Mikheil Saakashvili. We have repeatedly called on official Tbilisi to stop this abuse and negotiate Saakashvili's return to Ukraine. Our Ukrainian coordination partners have also offered various rescue options," he wrote, attaching a photo of the emaciated former Georgian president at his court hearing in Georgia on July 3. Zelenskyy noted that the Georgian ambassador would have to leave Ukraine within 48 hours for consultations with his capital (while countries typically recall their ambassadors for consultations in difficult situations).

This isn't the first diplomatic row between the countries over Saakashvili. In 2020, Tbilisi recalled its ambassador after the former president's appointment as head of the executive committee of the National Reform Council in Ukraine .

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Mikheil Saakashvili served as President of Georgia from 2004 to 2013. In 2012, the United National Movement he founded failed to secure a parliamentary majority in the elections, and in October 2013, Saakashvili fled Georgia, where the new Georgian Dream coalition authorities began pursuing criminal charges against him and his associates.

In May 2015, Saakashvili received Ukrainian citizenship by decree of President Petro Poroshenko; as a result, he was stripped of his Georgian passport. Saakashvili's work in Ukraine became a constant irritant in relations between Kyiv and Tbilisi. When Poroshenko appointed the Georgian politician as governor of the Odesa region in 2015, the decision was criticized in Georgia.

In 2017, following a conflict with Poroshenko, Saakashvili was stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship, but in 2019, following Zelensky's victory in the presidential election, it was restored, and Saakashvili became head of the executive committee of the National Reform Council.

In 2018, the Tbilisi City Court found him guilty of abuse of office as president and a number of other crimes and sentenced him in absentia to imprisonment.

In October 2021, Saakashvili secretly returned to Georgia and was detained. He went on hunger strike several times in pretrial detention. In February, a court denied his release on health grounds, and in May, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) rejected his request for a deferment of his sentence to allow him to undergo treatment in a foreign clinic. Saakashvili has repeatedly stated that he is "fighting for survival" and is "on the brink of death."

Tbilisi responded to Kyiv's demand with relative restraint. "Overall, this position of the [Ukrainian] government is insulting to us," Georgian Dream leader Irakli Kobakhidze said on July 4 (his words were reported by the Rustavi 2 television channel). The insult, he said, lies in the fact that Saakashvili was sent to Georgia in 2021 by "specific high-ranking officials of the Ukrainian government, and today those same authorities are demanding his return to Ukraine." The Georgian leadership wants to maintain good relations with Ukraine and remain with it "at least in a unilateral friendship," but the actions of the Kyiv authorities are not conducive to this, Kobakhidze concluded.

In the afternoon, the Georgian Foreign Ministry issued a statement expressing "deep concern" over the Ukrainian authorities' decision and calling it "an extreme escalation of diplomatic relations." Expressing hope that Kyiv would reconsider its decision, the ministry recalled that it has provided significant support to Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict. "Precisely because Ukraine is in the active phase of the war, the Georgian side, recognizing its great responsibility in terms of international relations and especially to its partners, is currently refraining from any additional reaction to the steps taken by Ukraine," the Georgian Foreign Ministry emphasized.

What are the risks for Tbilisi from worsening relations with Ukraine?

On July 1, Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree imposing sanctions for assisting Russia in its military actions. "Specifically, there are sanctions against nearly 300 legal entities and nearly 200 individuals. And these are not only Russian citizens. Anyone in the world who assists the aggressor will receive a response from Ukraine and the entire world," the Ukrainian president stated. Ten-year sanctions—blocking assets, restricting trade operations, and preventing capital flight—were also imposed on Georgian Airways and its founder, Tamaz Gaiashvili. Kyiv's decision stems from the fact that, after Russian President Vladimir Putin lifted visa requirements for Georgian citizens and the ban on direct flights in May 2023 , Georgian Airways began operating flights from Tbilisi to Moscow.

Gaiashvili told reporters that he believes the decision is politically motivated. "No airline in the world has the authority to initiate or terminate air service with one country or another. All of this is regulated by the governments of both countries, and we are obligated to comply with these regulations," he said ( as quoted by Interfax). Georgian Deputy Prime Minister Levan Davitashvili called Kyiv's decision "yet another unfriendly step" and suggested that the Georgian opposition may have been involved, having provided "distorted information" to Ukraine.

Following this, the Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Ukraine's Chargé d'Affaires, Alexander Shulga, to explain why the Georgian airline was included on the sanctions list.

Relations between Kyiv and Tbilisi had been problematic before, but they have worsened since the outbreak of full-scale hostilities in Ukraine, says Armenian political scientist and Georgia expert Johnny Melikyan. Kyiv considers Tbilisi's position insufficiently tough, as Georgia refuses to supply Ukraine with weapons or impose sanctions on Russia. "Periodically, [head of the ruling Servant of the People party's faction in the Verkhovna Rada] David Arakhamia and others who have good relations with the Georgian opposition escalate the situation. This is an anti-government stance—specifically, against the Georgian Dream government. In this context, this is, of course, an inter-elite conflict," the expert told RBK. " The Georgian authorities are not changing their position: having problems with Russia and seeing what is happening in Europe, they don't want to weaken the country and are trying to avoid internal conflicts. This is unnerving the leadership in Kyiv."

Melikyan characterizes Georgia's approach to relations with Ukraine as follows: "Tbilisi acknowledges that there is a crisis , but since Kyiv is currently in a vulnerable position, these issues should be put aside and revisited when the war is over. While the Georgian authorities are trying to avoid confrontation, Ukraine is deepening it." Melikyan estimates that Tbilisi will continue to adhere to this approach. "Because this isn't just a matter of foreign policy or bilateral relations—it also has a domestic political context," he notes.

The conflict between the two countries is further complicated by problems in relations between Georgia and the European Union. Unlike Ukraine and Moldova, Georgia did not receive EU candidate status in 2022 , but received 12 recommendations to implement. "The European Union is on Ukraine's side, and there is likely pressure on Tbilisi to act more actively in support of Kyiv. Tbilisi's desire to secure long-awaited and purely symbolic candidate status requires it to maintain more stable contacts with Brussels. Therefore, this confrontation with Ukraine could also harm Georgia's European prospects," Melikyan concludes.