Migration service decided to send Saakashvili back to Poland
Ukraine's State Border Guard Service was following a State Migration Service resolution when it expelled New Forces Movement leader and Georgia's ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili to Poland, the border agency's head, Petro Tsyhykal, has said.
"The State Border Guard Service complied with the State Migration Service's decision to send this person back to the country from which he came to Ukraine illegally. Jointly with the State Migration Service and National Police, measures were carried out, as the result of which Saakashvili was returned to Poland," Tsyhykal said in an interview with Ukraine's Channel 5 on Tuesday.
Similar measures were applied to 863 people last year, he said.
"Saakashvili is already this year's 93rd. So it is not with respect to a certain individual, he is no different from the rest," Tsyhykal said.
In July 2017, Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko stripped Saakashvili of Ukrainian citizenship while the latter was in the United States.
On September 10, Saakashvili, surrounded by his supporters, crossed from Poland into Ukraine, breaking across the border.
On February 12, 2018, Saakashvili was detained in Kyiv and sent back to Poland in line with the readmission procedure.