Foreign Affairs
Related: About this forumGeorgia ex-leader Saakashvili gives up citizenship for Ukraine
Georgian ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili says he is giving up Georgian citizenship as he becomes governor of Ukraine's Odessa region.
Mr Saakashvili told the BBC a Georgian passport meant "guaranteed imprisonment" there as the authorities pursued criminal charges against him.
The ex-leader was appointed unexpectedly by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Saturday.
He is credited with radical reforms in Georgia but accused of abuse of power.
Mr Saakashvili left Georgia after his term as president ended in 2013. He denies the charges against him, which he says are politically motivated.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32969052
Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)Mikheil Saakashvili leads foreign reformers in Ukraine
Mikheil Saakashvili: after leading Georgias 2003 Rose Revolution, he fought graft and bureaucracy and attracted foreign investors to an economy which, for a few years, was one of the most dynamic in the world achievements that Ukraine is desperate to match. Photograph: Gerard Cerles/AFP
The people of Odessa, a freewheeling Ukrainian port known for its salty sense of humour, are already having fun with and at the expense of their famous new governor.
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The mercurial Saakashvilis past will always shadow him in his new job, as his greatest strength and Achilles heel.
After leading Georgias 2003 Rose Revolution, he fought graft and bureaucracy and attracted foreign investors to an economy which, for a few years, was one of the most dynamic in the world achievements that Ukraine is now desperate to match following its own pro-Western uprising.
By the time he left the presidency in 2013, however, Saakashvili was widely loathed and his party had been ousted from government, amid public disgust over resurgent cronyism, rising state violence and suppression of critics.
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Many would love Saakashvili to fail, including Moscow which blames him for the 2008 war and for wrecking Russian-Georgian relations and current Georgian officials, who castigate him for taking Ukrainian citizenship and want to see him tried for abuse of power.
Key reformers
If he succeeds, a remarkable political renaissance for Saakashvili (47) would also help restore careworn Odessa to its former glory, and go a long way towards justifying Ukraines boldness in recruiting key reformers from abroad.
Saakashvili has been the loudest, characteristically, to take up his new citizenship and official post, but he is far from the first foreigner to join Ukraines beleaguered pro-Western administration.
The finance minister, Natalie Jaresko, is a Ukrainian-American born in Illinois; economy minister Aivaras Abromavicius is a Lithuanian; and the deputy prosecutor general, David Sakvarelidze, is from Georgia.
Its not that Ukraine doesnt have people to do the job, but we bring fresh eyes and fresh thinking, said Alexander Kvitashvili, the Ukrainian health minister who held the equivalent post in his homeland under Saakashvili.
It also helps that were not part of the system, and arent looking to build a political career, looking at poll ratings or hoping to keep our position for 10 years, Kvitashvili told The Irish Times.
If I fail, Ill be very disappointed, but I wont cling to my seat.
Chaos and poverty
Kvitashvili, who like Saakashvili is US-educated, said post-Rose Revolution Georgia benefited from the return of many foreign-trained specialists who had fled the chaos and poverty that blighted their homeland in the 1990s.
Ukraine doesnt have that generation, but already things are getting better if when I started I could barely find one good candidate for a post, now I have 10.
As it fights several big fires at once a near-bankrupt economy, a conflict with Russian-backed separatists, the loss of Crimea, a major reform and anti-corruption drive Ukraine has drafted in experts with experience of reforming post-Soviet systems, who are not beholden to any of the countrys political cliques.
Weve had our 15 minutes of fame, and this isnt about me or how long I stay. We want to be useful and helpful, and get the process right, said Eka Zguladze, who is leading Ukrainian police reform 10 years after performing a similar task in her native Georgia.
We are all people with some history of success. We each had individual negotiations about our jobs, so we dont come as a group. We are tools, and I think its very smart to address some reform hotspots through us, Ukraines deputy interior minister said.
Plus, we very consciously took citizenship of this country Im a Ukrainian working for the Ukrainian government.
Dozens of US and European advisers are also helping Ukraine overhaul its byzantine bureaucracy, while US and British military instructors are working to modernise its army, and Polish and Canadian trainers are expected to arrive soon.
To Moscow, this looks like the US and its allies are now running Ukraine.
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/mikheil-saakashvili-leads-foreign-reformers-in-ukraine-1.2233651