Saakashvili says Putin wanted to seize Ukraine over 20 years ago

Former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili, who is currently being held in a Georgian prison, said he warned Western leaders that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin wanted to seize Ukraine decades ago, according to The Times on July 18.

Saakashvili said he also warned the world about Russian imperialism back in 2008 when Putin invaded Georgia, however, he was disregarded by the West.

“When I warned the West about Putin, I was ignored like an unstable, embittered madman,” Saakashvili said.

Western leaders preferred to ignore Russian aggression against Georgia in order to maintain economic ties with Russia’s energy resources.

Saakashvili also recalled his attempts to convey his concerns about Putin to Gerhard Schröder, the German chancellor from 1998-2005.

Schröder has close ties with the Russian dictator. He was one of the main lobbyists for the building of Nord Stream pipelines running from Russia to Germany through the Baltic Sea.

The former chancellor was elected chairman of the board of directors of Russia's state-owned oil company Rosneft in 2017, and joined the board of directors at the Russian-German company Nord Stream AG, owned mostly by another Russian state energy giant Gazprom.

Following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he condemned Russia’s actions but maintained ties with Moscow.

“Unsurprisingly, he immediately denounced me to Putin,” Saakashvili wrote.

Mikheil Saakashvili detention: What is known

The former Georgian president and Ukrainian politician Saakashvili returned to Georgia in September 2021 on the eve of the local elections and was immediately arrested. He was sentenced to six years in prison over several cases.

The politician launched several hunger strikes in protest claiming that the detention was politically motivated.

Saakashvili's lawyers, family, and supporters say his health condition has seriously deteriorated due to hunger and called on the Georgian authorities to allow to treat him in Ukraine or elsewhere.

Read also: Georgia summons Polish diplomat after Polish doctors visit Saakashvili

His attorney Shalva Khachapuridze said in November 2022 that the prisoner was diagnosed with dementia and tuberculosis. Saakashvili believes he could have been poisoned by Russian agents.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in February 2023 that the Georgian government was killing Saakashvili and called for his release to Ukraine or elsewhere.

On July 3, Saakashvili, former Georgian president and current Ukrainian citizen, made aremote appearance in a court hearing for the first time in several months. Georgian oppositional media posted photos of the exhausted and lean politician.

On July 4, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry reported a protest to the Georgian ambassador in connection with the significant deterioration of the health of the Ukrainian imprisoned citizen and recommended that he leave Ukraine to consult with his own government.

On July 12, after a six-month delay, doctors from Poland were allowed to visit Saakashvili. Later, Georgian authorities said that a doctor sent by the European Union had tried to illegally take a sample of tests and carry it out in his shoe. They released a video showing the doctor taking a small object out of his shoe.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine