Saakashvili resigns as governor of Ukraine's Odessa region

Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili tendered his resignation from the post of governor of Ukraine's southern Odessa region on Monday, saying he would continue to fight corruption.

"I have decided to tender my resignation and start a new stage of the fight," he told journalists during a briefing.

Saakashvili was appointed Odessa governor in May 2015 by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

"In Odessa region the president is personally supporting two clans," he said - clans which he described as criminal and corrupt.

"This is going on quite openly. Odessa region is being handed over not only to corrupt people, but also to enemies of Ukraine," he said.

"They declare brazenly that they have billions in cash alone, and on top of that they get state aid - from those very pensioners who collect their last kopecks with shaking hands to avoid dying of hunger," BBC cited him as saying.

Saakashvili said he had been held back by individuals “who capitalize on the deaths of our soldiers... who betrayed the idea of the Ukrainian revolution, and whose only motivation in life is to fill their pockets and strengthen their clans, and to rob Ukraine to the end.”

The director of 'Slobodchuk and partners: politics, PR, elections', Sergey Slobodchuk, speaking with a correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza, expressed confidence that Saakashvili is "reverting to the game he started from". "He has initially positioned himself in Ukraine is as a fighter against corruption. Now he will again start conducting round tables, which used to be called 'anti-corruption forums'. "These roundtables made no difference to corruption, but the approval rating of Saakashvili's party rose with their help," he recalled.

The decline in ratings made him to start fight against corruption again. "Now Saakashvili has no program, no PR, therefore, he will return to the time-proven techniques to fill the void. Now Saakashvili will visit forums and participate in political talk-show, telling everywhere that corruption is a very bad thing. In general, he will be engaged in rhetoric, because in reality he cannot do anything," Sergey Slobodchuk expects.

Despite the open conflict with President Petro Poroshenko, according the the expert, Saakashvili is still not in danger in Ukraine. "The alliance with the US really helps him. His actions can be considered in the context of the US script: if there is a decision on early elections to the Verkhovna Rada, Saakashvili will play the role of insurance in order to prevent the situation of 2006, when a year after the presidential elections, it turned out that the opposition Party of regions won elections to the Verkhovna Rada. The voters disappointed with Poroshenko will have what is called the illusion of choice, voting for Tymoshenko, Lyashko or other Maidan politicians, despite the fact that nothing will be changed," he said.