Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili responded to the apology of Alexei Navalny, an imprisoned oppositional Russian politician. Saakashvili wished Navalny to go free and achieve the desired goal. He believes that Navalny is the future president of what will soon be left of Russia. "We are both the main enemies of Vladimir Putin," Saakashvili added.

Several days ago, Navalny apologized to Georgia for his words in 2008 and asked to show mercy to Saakashvili. During Tbilisi's attack on South Ossetia in August 2008, Navalny offered to expel Georgians from Russia; he called the Georgians rodents. "To my shame, I have a rather weak idea of Georgian politics, and I can say something wrong. To my even greater shame, somehow, under the influence of the fact that my friend was under shelling in Tskhinvali, I wrote a post in 2008 with an insulting epithet addressed to Georgians. For this, I apologized and apologize again," Navalny said. According to Navalny, Saakashvili should be released for treatment with a suspended sentence.

Notably, Alexei Navalny is a Russian opposition leader, lawyer, and anti-corruption activist. He has organized anti-government demonstrations and run for office to advocate reforms against corruption in Russia and against Vladimir Putin and his government, who avoid referring directly to Navalny by name. Navalny was a Russian Opposition Coordination Council member. He is the leader of the Russia of the Future party and founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK). In 2020, Navalny was poisoned with a nerve agent. He was flown to Germany for treatment and survived. However, he was arrested when he returned to Russia in January 2021. He was sentenced to 2 years and 8 months in prison for violating the terms of his suspended sentence. In March 2022, Navalny was sentenced to an additional 9 years in prison after being found guilty of embezzlement and contempt of court. The trial was widely condemned as a sham.