KIEV, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said on Monday that his stay in Ukraine is legal despite the violation of the border crossing procedure.
"To put an end to all talks that I did something illegally -- I am now on the Ukrainian territory absolutely legally, according to all Ukrainian procedures," Saakashvili told reporters in Ukraine's western city of Lviv.
The politician said that he has passed all the necessary migration procedures in the Migration Service office in Lviv.
Saakashvili, 49, who served as Georgian president from 2008 to 2013, was granted Ukrainian citizenship in May 2015 and was appointed as governor of Ukraine's southern Odessa region.
On July 26, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko revoked Saakashvili's Ukrainian citizenship over allegedly submitting false information while applying for a passport.
The politician, who has been abroad since mid-July, refused to accept the loss of his Ukrainian citizenship, saying that he would fight for the right to return to Ukraine.
Saakashvili crossed the Ukrainian border from Poland on Sunday, without showing documents to the border guards.
The politician was surrounded by hundreds of supporters, who forcefully broke through the cordon of border guards and security forces and escorted Saakashvili to the Ukrainian soil.
Ukrainian President Poroshenko has condemned Saakashvili for breaching the border, saying that the law enforcement agencies have to deal with the incident.
The National Police of Ukraine has opened criminal proceedings against Saakashvili and his supporters over the unlawful border crossing.
In November 2016, Saakashvili resigned as Odessa's regional head citing alleged corruption in Ukraine's governing bodies.
