Mikheil Saakashvili is back

UKRAINE - In Brief 23 Apr 2020 by Dmytro Boyarchuk
Mikheil Saakashvili will be appointed Vice-Prime Minister coordinating reforms, according to his Facebook page. Recall Saakashvili entered Ukrainian politics after the Revolution of Dignity in 2014. Ex-president Petro Poroshenko named him ‘an old friend’ and in 2015 appointed Saakashvili governor of Odesa region. But shortly conflicts between Poroshenko and Saakashvili emerged. Poroshenko had been trying to make a deal with old corrupt elites, including those who controlled Odesa region, while Saakashvili targeted to re-shuffle ‘business as usual’. Poroshenko dismissed Saakashvili from the governor post in November 2016. And Saakashvili started criticizing his ‘ex-friend’ and created an opposition party “Move of New Forces”. The conflict reached its climax in 2017 when Poroshenko stripped Saakashvili Ukrainian citizenship and later deported him. Only in May 2019 president Zelenskiy returned Mikheil Saakashvili Ukrainian citizenship. Bringing Saakashvili to the Cabinet is very interesting move. Firstly, because Georgian ex-president is independent and experienced politician. He will not play on a team and is expected to attack rent-seekers, which are returning their influence on different levels. Secondly, Saakashvili has a longstanding conflict with Minister of interior Arsen Avakov. Back in 2015 Avakov even publicly threw a glass of water into Saakashvili. Some observers treated this appointment as an attempt of Zelenskiy to balance out mighty Minister of interior at the Cabinet. Thirdly, Saakashvili did good work in Georgia when he was president meaning it’s a good chance he might do something useful for Ukraine at the Vice-Prime Minister post. Mikheil Saakashvili wi...

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