Over the weekend, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko announced that former Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili would take the reins as governor of the Odessa region in southern Ukraine. This appointment may appear odd at first — a former president taking on a much lower post, and in a different country, at that — but it is in line with Ukraine's evolving political spectrum amid a widening gulf between Russia and the West.
Saakashvili is not the first foreigner to be appointed to an important role in Ukraine's government. Ever since the Euromaidan movement of February 2014 ushered in a pro-Western government in Kiev and spurred counteractions from Russia, including support for separatists in eastern Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea, Ukraine's political landscape has undergone radical changes. One was the appointment of foreign nationals to key posts in the Ukrainian Cabinet, such as U.S.-born Natalie Jaresko as the finance minister and Lithuanian-born Aivaras Abromavicius as economy minister. For Kiev, these appointments were a way to usher in key reforms to facilitate financial assistance from the West and remove corruption and vested interests that have plagued the country's economic development since its independence from the Soviet Union. The appointments also indicated that this Ukrainian government is definitely looking to the West, unlike previous governments that hedged their relationships.
In this context, Poroshenko introduced Saakashvili as someone with extensive experience in carrying through major administrative reforms, as the former Georgian president did during his time in office from 2003-2013. Saakashvili is especially known for reforming Georgia's police and border patrol structures to increase professionalism and reduce bribery, and Poroshenko expressed hope that the former president could crack down on corruption in his new role as Odessa governor. Poroshenko also noted the appropriateness of Saakashvili's appointment to Odessa, a multicultural city that has traditionally welcomed foreigners looking to make a new life for themselves.
But Saakashvili's appointment to Odessa has more immediate motivations. The city, which is located on the Black Sea and serves as Ukraine's premier commercial port, has played a key role in the struggle between pro-Russia and pro-Ukraine forces. Following initially violent clashes between these forces, the city has remained under Ukraine's influence. However, the city is still subject to periodic terrorist attacks, and a part of its population views the government in Kiev with some skepticism. Saakashvili has pledged to keep Odessa out of Russia's "Novorossiya" — a term that means "New Russia" and refers to most of southern and eastern Ukraine — and to make sure the region follows Ukraine's path toward integration with the West.
Despite Poroshenko's praise, many see Saakashvili's appointment as controversial. Saakashvili was one of the most outspoken critics of Moscow during his time in office, and he assertively advocated Georgia's integration with Western institutions, particularly NATO. His stance was a major factor behind the Russo-Georgian War of August 2008, which was intended to demonstrate both Russia's military superiority over its smaller neighbor and NATO's unwillingness to come to Georgia's aid. Following Saakashvili's appointment, Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev posted on Twitter: "Saakashvili is the head of the Odessa region. The circus continues. Poor Ukraine."
Russia is not the only one to have misgivings about the appointment. Saakashvili's native Georgia has had a less than favorable reaction to the former president's new position, in no small part because the Georgian government has an arrest warrant out for Saakashvili. The government has targeted the ex-president, whose party was swept from power by the Georgian Dream movement in 2012-2013, on counts of abuse of power and embezzlement of public funds. Saakashvili has remained outside Georgia — mostly in the United States — for the past year in order to avoid trial and imprisonment.
In the meantime, Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili expressed a "strongly negative stance" toward the former president's appointment in Odessa. It is a bit odd that Ukraine would increase tensions with a country that is also trying to join the Western camp. But in a practical sense, Georgia does not factor heavily into Ukraine's Western integration efforts.
The significance of Saakashvili's appointment will likely come down to its symbolism more than the practical changes it could produce in Ukraine. Poroshenko and Western officials have praised Saakashvili's reform record, but the environment in which the former president carried out reforms was very different. During his presidency, Saakashvili had sweeping powers and a strong mandate from the Georgian public. Now, Saakashvili faces a divided public in Ukraine, particularly in Odessa. Moreover, powerful officials in Kiev will confine his decision-making. Saakashvili also carried out many of his reforms in Georgia in the years prior to the conflict with Russia in 2008. As governor of Odessa, his agenda will be scrutinized carefully in the middle of a conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Poroshenko understands these difficulties well, but more than anything else Saakashvili's appointment was intended to send a message: that Ukraine is committed to Western integration and that it will not succumb to Russian efforts to undermine it. Appointing someone as controversial as Saakashvili, the epitome of pro-Western and anti-Russia sentiment, is a sign of Ukraine's polarized atmosphere and marks another low point in relations between Kiev and Moscow. Whether Saakashvili succeeds or not in implementing reforms in Odessa is less important than his appointment in the first place amid negotiations between Ukraine, Russia and the West. The distrust harbored by Kiev and Moscow will sustain the confrontation, even as the parties hold talks to mitigate their differences.
