Georgia-Ukraine: Restoration of Relations or a Signal to the West?

• 07.26.2017, 18:20
•  Region,  World

Финансы Украины

After the visit of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to Georgia, many began to talk about the restoration of the Ukrainian-Georgian relations which deteriorated since 2012 when the forces of Bidzina Ivanishvili came to power in Georgia and former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili was forced to escape to Ukraine. However, after the visit, Poroshenko stated that Saakashvili's handover to Georgia was not discussed during his visit, Lenta.ru reports.

Despite Poroshenko's statement, David Sarkvaridze, the former Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine, who is now Saakashvili's ally stated that Poroshenko has been actively negotiating on this topic with former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili.

It should be noted that during a meeting with journalists in Georgia, Poroshenko was asked about Saakashvili's extradition, in response to which the Ukrainian president said that he had not received such a request from the Georgian authorities. Later the Minister of Justice of Georgia Tea Tsulukiani announced that the Georgian prosecutor's office twice officially appealed to the Ukrainian side to ask them to hand over Saakashvili but received a negative response. Only then Poroshenko "confessed" the reality. He said that he had clarified the information and found out that Georgia actually turned to Ukraine and had been refused, "Georgia Online" reports. Poroshenko noted that the Ukrainian side asked for additional materials on this issue.

On this background Georgia's good attitude to Ukraine has changed, becoming more negative. Such opinion was expressed by Georgian political scientist and public figure Marina Muskhelishvili, "Обозреватель" reports. 

As it is known, several criminal cases have been opened against ex-president on charges of embezzlement of public funds and abuse of authority. According to the Court's decision, if Saakashvili returned to Georgia, he should be arrested.

Diplomatic relations between Georgia and Ukraine were established on July 22, 1992. For 25 years between the countries more than 100 agreements have been issued on bilateral and multilateral cooperation in various spheres. But after the events of 2012 a lot changed. When Sahakashvili left for Ukraine, Poroshenko offered him the post of president's first advisor. Later, in May 2015, former Georgian president became a citizen of Ukraine and took the post of the governor of Odessa. However, in 2016, relations between Poroshenko and Saakashvili worsened, as Saakashvili resigned and went into Ukrainian opposition. After that, the presidents of Georgia and Ukraine began to restore their once-friendly relations. However, the Georgian president stated that there are many unresolved issues between the two countries that are more important than Saakashvili's return to Georgia. Deputy head of the Poroshenko administration in his turn earlier stated that relations between Kiev and Georgia had significantly increased recently. It should be recalled that Poroshenko was invited to Georgia by the country's President Georgi Margvelashvili.

Despite the goals published before the visit, among which is the signing of a number of documents promoting the deepening of strategic partnership between the two countries, many experts say that it was merely a formal statement for the media, and the visit actually pursued quite other goals. Poroshenko visited Georgia to influence the West with this step and to show the world that Ukraine is still capable to dialogue. Besides, the two countries have another common problem, and that is the issue of membership to the EU and NATO, which is open for a long time.