Georgia ex-president named adviser to Ukraine president

Poroshenko assigned Saakashvili as his non-staff adviser and as the chairman of the country’s Advisory International Council of Reforms, an official decree published on the Ukrainian president’s website on Friday.
 
According to the decree, the main goals of the council will be to develop proposals and recommendations for imposing reforms in Ukraine on the basis of the best international experience. The council will also invite foreign experts to work on changing the country’s legal system as well as increase international support for Ukraine.
 
Multiple charges in Georgia
 
The appointment of Saakashvili, who has been living in exile in the United States, comes despite him being wanted in Georgia for several criminal charges, including corruption and brutality against protesters.
 
Last December, the Georgian Prosecutor’s Office began proceedings to add Saakashvili to Interpol’s international wanted list.
 
Saakashvili, who was in office between 2004 and 2013, faces charges of exceeding official powers in connection with the breakup of anti-government protests in 2007 and ordering an assault on an opposition lawmaker two years earlier.
 
The former president has also been indicted for conspiring with other ex-senior officials in the cover-up of a high-profile murder case of banker Sandro Girgvliani in 2006.   
 
In addition, Saakashvili is facing charges of misspending 8.83 million Georgian Lari (currently USD 4.43 million) of public funds between 2009 and 2013.
 
Furthermore, Saakashvili, who held a strong anti-Russian stance, was in office when Georgia launched a major offensive against the independence-seeking republic of South Ossetia in a bid to retake control of the region.
 
Russia, South Ossetia's main ally, responded to the attack by moving in its military forces and driving out Georgian troops from both South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
 
The two regions declared independence after the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, but have not been internationally recognized.
 
Poroshenko’s foreign appointments
 
The selection of Saakashvili is not the first time Poroshenko appoints foreign nationals to his Cabinet. Since he took office last June, Poroshenko has taken several foreign assistants.
 
In December 2014, Poroshenko granted top posts to three nationals from the US, Georgia, and Lithuania after receiving citizenship. Former US State Department employee Natalie Jaresko was appointed as the country’s new finance minister, Lithuanian businessman Aivaras Abromavicius as the economy minister and former Georgian minister, Aleksandr Kvitashvili as the health minister.