Michael McFaul (former US Ambassador to Russia) published a letter about Mikheil Saakashvili in the Washington Post, saying that President Joe Biden and European democratic leaders should make an urgent call to save Saakashvili
“Right Now, Georgia’s former President Mikheil Saakashvili languishes in detention in that country — according to some reports, he is getting closer to death. The Biden administration, along with its allies, cannot allow this to happen. He writes, “It’s time to launch a global campaign now to free Saakashvili — precisely because his past service to the cause for democracy in his homeland.”
McFaul explains that there was one foreign leader who hated Saakashvili, Vladimir Putin. He notes that a successful Georgian Democracy on his southern flank would be anathema for everything Putin stood, and as such, he was determined not to allow Saakashvili to anchor Georgia to the West.
“The Russian President disliked his pronouncements on Georgia’s aspirations for NATO membership.” Putin feared color revolutions in Georgia, Ukraine and elsewhere because they threatened his autocratic rule in Russia. In August 2008, Putin demonstrated his hand by invading Georgia. He then recognized two regions of the nation as independent states and froze any discussions in Brussels regarding Georgia’s NATO Membership,” McFaul notes.
He says that as the Georgian Government became more autocratic, and Russia-friendly Saakashvili did not see a role for himself and left for Ukraine where he held various official positions, with varying degrees success.
“President Biden must, in coordination with other democratic leaders of Europe, make an urgent call to save Saakashvili. Biden and other leaders must, on humanitarian grounds, urge Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili, to grant Saakashvili pardon and to allow him to travel outside the country to a medical facility. This is a measure that has already been demanded by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe which has also declared Saakashvili as a political prisoner.
“Saakashvili dying in prison would be a win for Putin and a knock to the Georgian democracy.” Zelensky understood this better than anyone else, as he appealed last month to the Georgian authorities for them to “show mercy” and release the ex-president.
“Zelensky did the right thing.” The United States and European Union should follow suit. The free world has united in Ukraine to defend democracy. “They should do the same thing in Georgia by pushing for Saakashvili’s release,” McFaul wrote.
Information Source: www.washingtonpost.com
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