The Georgian Foreign Ministry, in a statement released on Tuesday, expressed deep concern about the decision of the Ukrainian authorities to send the Georgian ambassador to Tbilisi for consultations.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the eve once again called on the Georgian authorities to transfer Ukrainian citizen Mikheil Saakashvili to Ukraine for the necessary treatment and care. He also instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to "summon the Georgian ambassador to Ukraine, express a strong protest to him and offer him to leave Ukraine within 48 hours for consultations with his capital."

In a statement, the Georgian Foreign Ministry called such steps an extreme form of "escalation in diplomatic relations" and expressed regret that official Kyiv takes this step against the friendly state and people.

"The decision of the Ukrainian authorities inflicts a heavy damage on the strategic relations between the two countries and represents a direct interference in the domestic affairs of the sovereign state. We reserve the hope that Kyiv will reverse its decision and will direct its efforts towards further developing the historically friendly relations between the two countries," the Georgian Foreign Ministry said in the statement.

"Precisely because Ukraine is going through the active phase of the war, and Georgia is aware of its great responsibility for international relations and especially towards its partners, we refrain at this stage from any kind of further reaction to the steps taken by Ukraine, as well as from causing any further tension in bilateral relations that would bring the already difficult situation to a deadlock," the ministry said in the statement.

According to the statement, on Tuesday at a meeting at the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, Georgian Ambassador Georgy Zakarashvili presented Tbilisi's official position.