The actions of state agencies of Ukraine if former Odesa governor Mikheil Saakashvili attempts to return to Ukraine are the responsibility of the Interior Ministry, the State Migration Service and State Border Service of Ukraine, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said during a visit on Friday to Kharkiv.

"When the State Migration Service presented to the citizenship commission documents showing inaccurate or false information for Saakashvili to receive citizenship, I had to act in accordance with the law and the Constitution. Any other steps would have been criminal. Therefore, in conformity with the report of the State Migration Service and Commission, I signed the decree [stripping Saakashvili of citizenship]. The same would apply for any Ukrainian citizens, in whose applications for citizenship false or inaccurate information was discovered," Poroshenko said.

Saakashvili responded to Poroshenko's statement saying that stripping him of Ukrainian citizenship was the president's idea in the first place.

"It was not done legally. It was a violation, and this will be proven in court. It will be impossible to cover up the fact that this was Poroshenko's initiative – fuelled by his fear and wish to eliminate a troublesome critic by throwing him out of the country. This will not stand," Saakashvili said on his Facebook page.

Saakashvili earlier announced plans to return to Ukraine on September 10.

Poroshenko on July 26 issued a decree stripping Saakashvili of Georgian citizenship.