MOSCOW (AP) — Former Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili on Saturday was appointed governor of Ukraine’s troubled Odessa region.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko posted the appointment announcement on his website and presented Saakashvili to officials in Odessa city, the region’s capital. The former President has also renounced his Georgian citizenship and become a citizen of Ukraine.
Odessa is Ukraine’s largest seaport and has additional strategic importance as the major city between the Russia-annexed Crimean peninsula and the Moldovan separatist region of Transdniester, which is supported by Russian forces.
Although the city has not been hit by the fighting between government forces and separatists in the east, tensions between nationalists and pro-Russians have been strong. Last May, 48 people died in violence between supporters of both sides, most of them pro-Russians who took shelter in a building that caught fire after opponents threw firebombs into it.
Saakashvili’s appointment could aggravate relations with Russia that have been severely damaged by the Crimea annexation and the fighting in the east.
Russian President Vladimir Putin disdains Saakashvili, who came to power in the 2003 Rose Revolution protests. The Kremlin points to those demonstrations as the beginning of the so-called “color revolutions” that it contends are engineered by the West to overthrow legitimate governments that pursue ties with Moscow.
Under Saakashvili, Georgia fought a short war with Russia in 2008, in which it lost control of two Russia-backed separatist territories. He faces accusation of abuse of power at home, and Ukraine last month rejected Georgia’s request for his extradition.
There was no immediate Kremlin comment on his Odessa appointment, but Andre Purgin, a top eastern Ukraine separatist leader, called it “mockery and an absolutely unprecedented step.”
Note to Kiev - this isn’t exactly a credibility building move on the international stage. Also, you will now have to find extra hotel space for constant John McCain visits. If you can find the Ukrainian equivalent of a fainting chair for Lindsay Graham, it would probably be a good thing as well.
While we tend to think of former Soviet countries as having been liberated from Russia, the fact is that Soviet ties are often quite important and nationalism a strategy used when the person advocating it thinks it will be useful.
My bet is Poroshenko wanted a governor who would owe him allegiance, rather than getting legitimacy from an electorate or popular support. Ukraine is a failed state and all policy should recognize this fact.
That’s a tad harsh. They still have elections, government offices, many scheduled trains, McDonald’s all over.
Contrast Iraq; contrast Libya.
Well, Odessa has everything Mikhail needs. Port traffic, tricky and just-worstened relations with Moscow, and the nearby Russia-backed enclave of Transdniestria that he can start fights with Russia over as usual. And almost get bailed out by John McCain but in truth get his martyring-ass region occupied and permanently lose territory over. Could offer good fund-raising shtick for candidate Lindsey Graham BTW!
Guess Mikhail re-learned Russian in about 60 seconds; that will be helpful for him as he gets into frequents tussles with malevolment FSB provacateurs patrollling Odessa at all hours. I can actually just imagine, “Hey Misha, we kicked your lily ass in South Ossetia! What, back for more?? Show us some deference; how about oral sex from you, for me and the crew!”
Ukraine had a stagnant economy before the war started. It had industry with markets (okay, so they were in Russia, but those industries have made a few Ukrainians billionaires), it was the bread basket of the Soviet Union and has an educated population. In short, it had the ingredients of success.
It’s per capita GDP before the war put it below such economic giants like Gabon and Albania, at the same time, some individuals, many of them connected to Gov’t became billionaires. Ukraine has at least 10 of them, the richest is worth over $17B US. Something to think about when Ukraine just got a 17B$ bailout from the IMF.
Further, the Russians strolled into Crimea because so many of the Crimeans didn’t think Kiev was worth fighting for.
At some point, elections are just one kleptocrat replacing another.