"After removing me from Ukraine physically, Poroshenko hopes that he has lost his main political opponent. He deprived me of citizenship, he did not let me go to Ukraine under far-fetched pretexts. He is afraid of me very much. This is not because I have an army or money, but because I cannot be bought. I refused to negotiate with him in Odessa, refused to put a blind eye to his atrocities and corruption," Saakashvili told reporters.
Saakashvili was detained in Kiev by Ukraine's State Border Service and deported to Poland.
"I was assaulted by men in masks in a restaurant in Kiev, they kidnapped me, threatened me and sent me on a private jet to Poland. This situation was plotted by corrupt Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko," Mikheil Saakashvili said.
According to Ukraine's border service, the 50-year-old was in Ukraine illegally and therefore "was returned to the country from where he arrived."
"If the EU and especially, Angela Merkel didn't do anything, Ukraine would be ruined. Poroshenko is wrecking this country and wants to get rid of me, as I expose corruption," said the politician.
Earlier, Saakashvili said that he plans to return to Ukraine legally.
"Of course, I will return to Ukraine, and I will find a way to do it," Saakashvili said.
READ MORE: Epic VIDEO of Saakashvili's Detention in Kiev Released
A spokeswoman for Mr. Saakashvili said he had been detained during lunch at a Georgian restaurant in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, by armed men in camouflage uniforms from Alfa, a unit of Ukraine's internal security agency, and the border guard service. He was then sent, against his will, to Warsaw.
Mikheil Saakashvili was made a Ukrainian citizen in 2015, automatically losing his Georgian passport. He was stripped of his citizenship last July and officials now count him stateless. In the same year, Saakashvili was appointed the governor of Ukraine's Odessa region. In 2016, the politician resigned from his position, blaming Ukrainian leadership, namely Poroshenko, for corruption in the region and across Ukraine.
