Saakashvili breaks through Ukrainian border in violent clashes
11 September 2017
Mikheil Saakashvili, the former Ukrainian state
official who was denied his citizenship in July, led a daylong political
theatre in which he broke through the Ukrainian border illegally on Sept. 10
with the help of dozens of supporters and provocateurs. The violent clashes
resulted in injuries to five border guards and 11 police officers. This
morning, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov called upon Saakashvili to report to
the Shehyni border point or a local office of the Migration Service. Criminal
charges have been filed for engaging in an illegal swarming of people across
the border, Avakov said on his Facebook page, warning that his accomplices
would also be criminally charged.
Although hinting that he would cross at Poland’s
Korczowa-Krakovets border point, Saakashvili’s first real attempt to enter
Ukraine was by riding a train from the Polish city of Przemysl to the Ukrainian
city of Lviv. Confirming the crossing had been rehearsed, dozens of tickets were
purchased ahead of time by his team of supporters. However, Ukrainian
authorities canceled the train. Afterwards, Saakashvili went directly to the
Medyka-Shehyni border point, where he thrust past border guards in a crowd of
dozens of supporters without submitting his passport for review.
Zenon Zawada:
Saakashvili’s political spectacle yesterday marks the beginning of the 2019
presidential and parliamentary election campaign. A pro-Western opposition is
shaping up to oppose Poroshenko’s re-election bid, led by Saakashvili and
Tymoshenko. While Saakashvili is not qualified to run for president or
parliament, he has the ability to organize and lead the activity of his
political party, The Movement of New Forces, which can work in tandem with
other pro-EU parties opposed to the Poroshenko administration.
Saakashvili plans to cooperate politically with
Tymoshenko since she was at his side for most of the day’s theatrics, with
began with an on camera lunch in the city of Rzeszow. When Saakashvili emerged
in Lviv for an evening press briefing, he was not only accompanied by
Tymoshenko but also Mayor Andriy Sadovyi, who was targeted for political
persecution by the Poroshenko administration. Sadovyi leads the Self-Reliance
party, which can form a coalition with Tymoshenko’s Fatherland party and
Saakashvili’s party after the 2019 elections.
intelligence services, which have grown tired of Poroshenko’s corruption. With
Saakashvili’s help, they are cobbling together a coalition of MPs willing to
pursue reforms a lot farther and quicker than Poroshenko and his team, who have
demonstrated much resistance. It’s worth noting that Saakashvili’s agitators
were clearly part of an organized effort and had received training.
