Georgia condemns Ukraine for its protests over health of former president Saakashvili

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Georgia’s Foreign Ministry is criticizing Ukraine for urging the Georgian ambassador to return to Tbilisi for consultations over the poor health of imprisoned former president Mikheil Saakashvili, who is also a Ukrainian citizen. The Foreign Ministry on Tuesday called Ukraine’s action “an extreme form of escalation.” Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry had summoned Georgia’s ambassador to express its protest over the apparent significant deterioration in the health of Saakashvili, who was convicted of abuse of power while he was president in 2004-2013. Saakashvili appeared severely emaciated on Monday in a videolink testimony to a court considering an abuse-of-power case against him.