Tbilisi has offered to hand over to the Ukrainian authorities "criminals who currently hold high positions in the Ukrainian government." This is stated in a statement issued today by the Georgian government, UNN reports with reference to Novosti Georgia.
We are talking about former Georgian officials under Mikheil Saakashvili's presidency who now hold positions in Ukraine, and who were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment in their home country after the change of government.
The reason for the statement was the public appearance of former Minister of Justice Zurab Adeishvili, who visited Germany as part of an official delegation as an advisor to the Prosecutor General of Ukraine.
"Due to the fact that Ukraine is involved in a war and is defending itself against Russian military aggression, we have long refrained from taking any position on this position of the Ukrainian authorities. However, after Zurab Adeishvili's visit to Brussels and Berlin as part of the Ukrainian delegation, we are forced to clearly express our position.
A number of decisions by the Ukrainian authorities, which blatantly contradict the traditional friendship that has been established between the two countries and peoples, are regrettable and deeply disturbing. High-level positions in the Ukrainian government continue to be held by people who are wanted or convicted of various crimes," the statement said.
In addition to Adeishvili, the statement also mentions Giorgi Lortkipanidze, who is the deputy head of the Counterintelligence Service of Ukraine.
"These individuals headed the authoritarian regime of the previous government of Georgia, which took the lives, health and well-being of many people...
The Georgian government does not understand why the Ukrainian government is making such decisions aimed at artificially separating two friendly countries and peoples from each other.
We hope that the Ukrainian authorities will reconsider the decisions that directly contradict the spirit of friendship between Georgia and Ukraine, the Georgian and Ukrainian peoples. First and foremost, in order to regulate relations, it is important and necessary for the Ukrainian authorities to hand over to Georgia the criminals who currently hold high positions in the Ukrainian government.
The Georgian government believes that a number of decisions by the Ukrainian authorities "blatantly contradict the traditional friendship between the two countries and peoples.
Among the examples of such decisions is the recall of the Ukrainian ambassador from Georgia, as noted in the statement, "under the unclear pretext of not imposing sanctions and not sending combat volunteers to Ukraine." The Georgian government is also dissatisfied with the fact that the Ukrainian authorities have made a number of statements about the political nature of Mikheil Saakashvili's imprisonment.
At the same time, the government states that over the past two years, Georgia has steadfastly declared its solidarity with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people, and condemned Russia's military aggression against a friendly country.
The statement emphasizes that Georgia has officially joined more than 600 decisions on international platforms that support Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity and condemn Russia's military aggression. In addition, Georgia provides humanitarian assistance to the friendly Ukrainian people.