Editor’s Note: Ukrainian police seized ex-Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili in Kyiv on Feb. 12 and deported him to Poland for alleging illegally entering Ukraine in September. Saakashvili’s Ukrainian citizenship was taken away in July when he was outside of the country. He crossed the border into Ukraine by force with the help of his supporters and has been fighting deportation ever since.
Svitlana Sholina,
retiree
“He has arrived in Ukraine illegally, so it’s the right thing that he got deported. I don’t consider the political point of view, I consider facts.”
Marina Kyrychenko,
lawyer
“I don’t think it was legal but I think it was needed. It’s my political belief. Everything about his getting and losing Ukrainian citizenship, crossing Ukrainian border, etc. was more about politics than law.”
Pavlo Tsap,
researcher
“Considering how he crossed the border, his deportation is reasonable.”
Anatolii Kosar,
carpenter
“I support him as a personality, and I don’t think that they have had the right to deport him. It was illegal.”
Valentina Kovalenko,
retiree
“It’s a complicated issue but I think that it was the right thing to do. They have forbidden him to cross the border, but we all know how he ended up here. So, they have the right to deport him now.”
