Ukrainian Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko has said that at present there are no legal obstacles to continuing the extradition check at the request of the Georgian side against former Georgina president and leader of the Movement of New Forces party Mikheil Saakashvili.

"Now there are no legal obstacles to continuing the extradition verification process at the request of the Georgian side, which was sent to the Ukrainian Justice Ministry and the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine... We, for our part, will act solely within the framework of legislation and international norms so as to make final decisions on this request for extradition," he told the 112 Ukraine TV channel on Friday, when asked about Saakashvili's legal status.

Speaking about what can follow after the completion of the extradition check - leaving Ukraine or deportation to Georgia, Petrenko said: "This is the competence of other bodies... I do not want to predict or plan other scenarios."

He again said that there were currently no obstacles to continuing the extradition procedure in accordance with Ukrainian and international legislation.

As reported, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko stripped Saakashvili of Ukrainian citizenship in 2017 when he was outside the country.

The Justice Ministry and the Prosecutor Office of Georgia have repeatedly stated that in recent years they have appealed to their Ukrainian colleagues several times, demanding the extradition of Saakashvili, against whom several criminal cases were opened.

In early January 2018, Tbilisi City Court sentenced Saakashvili to three years of imprisonment on one of the criminal cases in absentia.