AKIPRESS.COM - Petro Poroshenko, the president of Ukraine, has appointed former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili to be governor of Ukraine’s southern Odessa region, reports The Guardian.

Poroshenko made the announcement of Saakashvili’s appointment standing alongside the Georgian at a ceremony in Odessa, where he described him as “a great friend of Ukraine“. He granted Saakashvili Ukrainian citizenship to facilitate the move.

Saakashvili replaces Ihor Palytsia, a businessman who was appointed governor in May last year after more than 40 people, most of them pro-Russian sympathisers, died in a fire in the port city during a confrontation with pro-western demonstrators.

Saakashvili is widely credited with carrying out radical reforms in Georgia and cracking down on corruption during his term in office from 2004-2013. But the present Georgian leadership has accused him of abuse of power and has asked for his extradition. He denies any wrongdoing and says charges against him are politically motivated.

Like Poroshenko, Saakashvili, whose country fought a brief war with Russia in August 2008, is a strong advocate of Nato and European Union membership for his native Georgia and for Ukraine.

His appointment drew immediate derision in Moscow. The Russian prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, tweeted: “Saakashvili – head of Odessa region. The Chapiteau show goes on. Sad Ukraine ...“. The ‘chapiteau show’ is a Russian way of referring to circus routines.