Former Georgian president gets Ukrainian citizenship back

MOSCOW – Mikheil Saakashvili, the former president of Georgia, has been given his Ukrainian citizenship back by the country’s new president.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the comedian who last week took power in Ukraine following his convincing election victory, signed a decree on Tuesday that gave back Saakashvili his Ukrainian citizenship. He had been stripped of it in 2017 by Zelenskiy’s predecessor Petro Poroshenko.

Saakashvili had publicly supported Zelenskiy’s presidential bid and expressed hope that he would be allowed back once Zelenskiy assumes office.

Saakashvili, who was Georgia’s president between 2008 and 2013, got a new lease of life in Ukraine when Poroshenko appointed him governor of the Odesa region in 2015.

Saakashvili, however, was pushed out of office a year later following a spat with Poroshenko.