Mikheil Saakashvili Launches His New Career

as a Ukrainian Reformer

BY IEVGEN VOROBIOV-JUNE 10, 2015

In his first press conference as governor of Ukraines Odessa region yesterday, Mikheil
Saakashvili unveiled an ambitious program. The former president of Georgia, known
for his reformist zeal, promised an overhaul of Odessas police force, measures
against corruption, and improvements in the business climate.
At the same time, Saakashvili tried to play down the confrontational manner that
earned him many enemies in Georgia. The new governor, who rose to fame as the
leader of his homelands so-called Rose Revolution, depicted himself as a man with a
personal stake in Odessas success, recalling the years he spent in Ukraine when he
was serving in the military and attending university during the Soviet period.
Saakashvilis appointment to the post announced by President Petro Poroshenko
two weeks ago came as a surprise. To be sure, Poroshenko has previously
appointed several foreigners to prominent positions in the government. His finance
minister is Ukrainian-American Natalie Jaresko. Economy Minister Aivaras
Abromavicius is a Lithuanian-born investment banker.
But compared with those technocrats, Saakashvili stands in a category of his own. A

charismatic politician who served two terms as the president of a sovereign state
would not normally be expected to administer a region in another country. Since
Saakashvili is facing criminal charges in his home country (issued by a government
now run by his longstanding political opponents), his appointment could antagonize
Kievs relations with the government in Tbilisi.
But there are also pages of Saakashvilis biography that boost his political capital in
Ukraine. He ruled Georgia during the war against Russia in 2008 and the frozen
conflict afterwards, experience that in the eyes of many Ukrainians gives him
added crisis-management credibility in Odessa, a politically brittle region that borders
on the Russian-supported separatist region of Transnistria. While many Georgians
may be tired of Saakashvilis brand of leadership, his eloquent anti-Putin rhetoric
endears him to many Ukrainians.
Little noted by the outside world, though, is the way that Saakashvilis appointment has
reignited the continuing struggle inside Ukraines political elite. Its no accident that the
bitterest critique of the new governor came from business tycoon Ihor Kolomoisky, the
man who has been the main target of Poroshenkos self-declared effort to break the
power of Ukraines oligarchs. This is a temporary figure, Kolomoisky declared,
referring to Saakashvilis appointment. He will yield up Odessa to the Russians, and
we will have to win it back afterwards.
Few Ukrainians seem to have taken Kolomoiskys remark seriously, but there was no
mistaking the signal he was trying to send. Until recently, Kolomoisky himself served
as a governor of another crucial region, Dnipropetrovsk in eastern Ukraine. He was
dismissed by Poroshenko after a heated proxy dispute between the two over the
management of state oil companies, an issue in which the oligarch has substantial
vested interests.
Despite losing his government job, Kolomoiskys business assets still make him a
force to be reckoned with. He controls several oil and gas companies, owns a major
chunk of the crucial steel industry, co-owns the countrys biggest commercial bank,
and holds stakes in several influential media outlets. Like other oligarchs, Kolomoisky
earned his wealth primarily thanks to Ukraines murky privatization process. Unusually
for other Ukrainian oligarchs, however, Kolomoisky has also managed to earn
considerable public support. Last year he positioned himself as an outspoken
nationalist, even sponsoring a military unit to support Ukraine in its fight against proRussian separatists in the east.
It isnt hard to figure out why Kolomoisky might feel particularly irked by Saakashvilis
appointment. Saakashvilis predecessor in Odessa was none other than Ihor Palytsia,
Kolomoiskys long-time business partner and lobbyist, who had held the job for the
past year. Kolomoisky, who already has major business interests in the Odessa region,
was positioning himself to benefit from the planned privatization of several major
companies there. Its also important to remember that governors in Ukraine still have
extensive administrative and budgetary powers. The loss of access to these resources
is a major blow to Kolomoisky and his allies in the region.

Kolomoisky, who thrives on conflict, certainly hasnt given up. While Palytsias firing
and the loss of his own governorship have curtailed his direct political power, he still
has a powerful media empire at his disposal, and he has wasted no time in bringing its
forces to bear. The Kolomoisky-owned 1+1 TV channel, which boasts the secondbiggest viewership in Ukraine, ran a vicious 40-minute-long documentary about
Saakashvili last weekend. Painting him as a would-be dictator who was chased out of
Georgia by his political opponents, the makers of the film mockingly called Saakashvili
a member of the Georgian theater of reforms, which, it said, has embarked on a
Ukrainian tour after Poroshenkos victory in the presidential election.
Most Ukrainian journalists and media experts heavily criticized their colleagues for
producing the film some even going so far as to compare it with Russian
propaganda (a damning indictment, coming from Ukrainians). Vakhtang Kipiani, a
Georgian-Ukrainian journalist, points out that the program embraced the clichs and
lies disseminated by Russian media and intentionally selected its sources solely from
Saakashvilis opponents.
This isnt the first time Kolomoiskys TV channel has gone after Poroshenko. In May, a
popular satire show on 1+1 ran a sketch that depicted a witty and sharp-tongued
Kolomoisky running rings around a hapless Poroshenko. Some political observers
speculate that it may have been precisely this broadcast that prompted Poroshenko to
appoint Saakashvili to the job in Odessa. By contrast, the more recent program
bashing Saakashvili has drawn criticism from across the political spectrum; one 1+1
correspondent even publicly criticized her own channels ethical standards. The film
was promptly removed from 1+1s official YouTube channel.
Characteristically, Saakashvili immediately counterattacked. In his Tuesday press
conference, he suggested that hell be directly involved in overseeing the privatization
process in the Odessa region to prevent corruption and losses for the budget. That
hint is bound to annoy Kolomoisky, one of the few Ukrainian oligarchs with enough
liquidity to buy assets amid the continuing economic crisis and credit crunch.
Nor was this Saakashvilis first sally against Kolomoisky. Just days after his
appointment Saakashvili accused the oligarch of stifling competition in the Ukrainian
airline market: Only one company flies [to Odessa], and thats because it has a
representative on the State Aviation Committee. The company is Ukraine
International, the countrys biggest airline, which is co-owned by Kolomoisky.
In addition to its monopoly on domestic flights to and from Odessa, Ukraine
International also controls half of all international routes in and out of the city. This
drives prices up and limits the passenger flow to Odessa, an otherwise important
transport and tourist center. With Crimea occupied by Russia, Odessa is poised to
become the new vacation hotspot in Ukraine. Odessa is visited by an average 1
million tourists a year, a business that currently accounts for a mere 1-1.5 percent of
the regions economy, but which could easily generate far more revenue under the
right conditions. Saakashvili may be trying to enlist the tourism industry as his ally in a
war against Kolomoisky.promised to turn Odessa into the capital of the Black Sea

region." style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; fontfamily: Tiempos, Georgia, serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 32.7999992370606px;
font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline;">In his usual brash manner,
Saakashvili promised to turn Odessa into the capital of the Black Sea region. The
reality is likely to be a bit less rosy. Saakashvili faces a long uphill battle in confronting
deeply entrenched corruption in Odessas customs administration, police, and
judiciary.
The risks are clear. Saakashvilis penchant for grandiose showcase projects (such as
the costly construction of an opera house in the Georgian provincial city of Batumi
during his presidency) could easily lead to mismanagement and corruption (or the
appearance thereof) if he tries indulging it in Odessa. His determination to overhaul
the police force will prompt pushback from the old guard, a dangerous scenario in a
highly volatile region. With a dollop of sarcasm, perhaps, Saakashvilis predecessor,
Ihor Palytsia, has wished him luck, saying that hes placing high hopes in the expresidents tenure in Odessa.
If Saakashvili succeeds, though, he could reaffirm Poroshenkos corruption-fighting
credentials, boosting the presidents political power in the region ahead of local
elections this fall. Saakashvili has been waiting for a chance to show what hes worth
in his second Motherland. While many Ukrainians would probably be happy to see
him succeed, they also know that their country has a long record of defying reformers.
Expect plenty of unflattering TV shows to come.
In the photo, Mikheil Saakashvili and Georgian volunteers attend the Kiev funeral
ceremony of a Georgian fighter who was killed fighting against pro-Russian rebels.
Photo credit: GENYA SAVILOV/AFP/Getty Images
Posted by Thavam