On 30 April, the head of Ukraine's ruling party “Servant of the People” David Arahamia stated that former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili would receive another position in the government of the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky instead of being the country’s deputy prime minister.  

According to him, Saakashvili and Zelensky spent several days negotiating his future position and found a new role. “This is a new position, I can’t voice it to you, since this is the initiative of the president, let it remain intrigue,” Arahamia said without giving any specific details.

On 28 April, various Ukrainian media sources reported that the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine withdrew the issue of appointment of Georgia’s ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili as Deputy Prime Minister of the country.

The edition “Ukrainskaia Pravda” was informed of this event by a source who attended the meeting between the opposition parliamentary faction 'Voice' and Saakashvili. “It seems that the faction 'Servant of the People' has deceived him”, a source said. 

Earlier, another media outlet reported that instead of the post of deputy prime minister, the ruling party might “nominate Saakashvili as a candidate for the 'Servant of the People' in Odessa, with maximum political and financial support from the government.”

The Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) Dmitry Razumkov said that he was not sure that he would support the appointment of Saakashvili as deputy prime minister of Ukraine. The media in Ukraine also quoted parliament sources as saying that Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal also opposed the appointment of Saakashvili to the post.  

In the aftermath of the Ukrainian media reports, Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili spoke officially against Saakashvili’s appointment, stating that such a move would be “both incomprehensible and unacceptable.” She said that Saakashvili has been found guilty of several offences in Georgia and is wanted by the country’s law enforcement agencies. “I cannot conceive of any one person that could be so important and valuable for Ukraine to the point of risking the friendship of our nations, disregard Georgian state institutions and offending our society,” she stated.  She added that Georgia and Ukraine are close strategic partners and cooperation is based on a century-long friendship, mutual respect, common interests and aspirations. 

The member of the parliamentary majority Irakli Kobakhidze also publicly stated that the appointment of former President Mikheil Saakashvili to any public office in Ukraine is fundamentally unacceptable for Georgia. He also noted that this issue was discussed between Georgian and Ukrainian representatives.

 The leader of the opposition European Georgia Davit Bakradze stated that such statements from the Georgian government officials might damage Georgia-Ukraine relations. “Ukraine is the locomotive in the process of integration of Georgia into NATO and the European Union. We are both fighting against a common enemy. It is inadmissible to put everything under the question mark for any party, private or political interests,” he said. Bakradze also called on the Georgian authorities to stop making destructive statements and not to use Ukraine’s domestic affairs as the issue of conflict in Georgia.

The Spokesperson of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov also commented on Saakashvili’s possible appointment, calling Saakashvili’s participation in politics “a very bad omen.” “This is not our business. And it should not be our business who works in the government of Ukraine. This is the business of the Ukrainians. It seems to be, as I read the media reports, that this idea has already been abandoned. We can say: well, thank God. I will say this: Saakashvili is a very bad sign. He was a very bad sign for Georgia - which fell apart and Odessa didn’t get anything good either,” he said. In Peskov’s opinion, Saakashvili also became a “bad omen” for the former President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, who employed him as head of the Odessa region, and afterwards Poroshenko’s ratings dropped. 

On 22 April, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky offered Saakashvili the seat of deputy prime minister in charge of reforms in the country. Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia expressed his dissatisfaction with this proposal and considered to recall the Georgian ambassador to Ukraine (Caucasus Watch reported).