Page 9 - ARUBA TODAY

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WORLD NEWS Monday 11 SepteMber 2017
Stateless Mikheil Saakashvili breaks through into Ukraine

The border breakthrough violence. through. After passing the
at the Medyka-Shehyni He then traveled to the Pol- Polish checkpoint, he was
crossing point on the Polish- ish city of Przemysl, where confronted by cars block-
Ukrainian border came af- he boarded a train bound ing the road and a single
ter a day of drama and re- for the western Ukraine city line of guards in camou-
peatedly changing plans. of Lviv. But the train was flage, carrying batons.
Saakashvili had intended held at the station for hours The crowd approached the
to travel through another — and then announced line of guards and eventu-
crossing point, where hun- that it would not leave with ally began shoving, then
dreds of supporters had a person who had no per- broke through. Supporters
gathered on the Ukrainian mission to enter Ukraine. who had gathered on the
side. But he changed his Saakashvili and his entou- Ukrainian side rushed for-
plans at midday Sunday, rage eventually got off ward to greet Saakashvili
claiming fears that provo- the train and took buses and the crowd proceeded
cateurs on the Ukrainian to the Medyka crossing, toward the Ukrainian town
side were gearing up for where Polish guards let him of Shehyni on foot.q
Former Georgian President
and former Ukraine official,
Mikheil Shaakashvili speaks
on a mobile phone in the
south-eastern city of Rzeszow,
Poland, Sunday, Sept. 10,
2017, before setting off in an
attempt to return to Ukraine
although both his Ukrainian
and Georgia passports are no
longer valid.
(AP Photo/Czarek
Sokolowski)
By DMYTRO VLASOV
Associated Press
SHEHYNI, Ukraine (AP) —
Mikheil Saakashvili and a
small crowd of supporters
shoved their way through
a line of guards on the
Ukrainian border Sunday,
making good on the politi-
cian’s vow to return to the
land that had stripped him
of citizenship.
The return of the divisive
and headstrong Saakash-
vili, who became governor
of Ukraine’s Odessa region
after being Georgian presi-
dent from 2004-13, poses a
strong challenge to Ukraini-
an Petro Poroshenko, who
once was Saakashvili’s pa-
tron but then revoked his
citizenship in July.
Saakashvili was appointed
to the Odessa post in 2015
on the strength of his re-
cord of fighting corruption
in Georgia.
However he resigned the
post after only 18 months,
complaining that official
corruption was so en-
trenched he could not
work effectively.
The return also carries risk
for Saakashvili, who is state-
less.
Georgia, where he faces
accusations of abuse of
power and misappropria-
tion of property, has sent
an extradition request for
him to Ukraine. It is not
clear if Ukraine intends to
honor that request.