by Our Foreign Desk

PRESIDENT Petro Poroshenko took the bizarre decision at the weekend of appointing fugitive Georgian ex-president Mikhail Saakashvili as governor of Ukraine’s Odessa region.

Mr Saakashvili, who faces accusations of abuse of power in his homeland, has lived in Ukraine since fleeing Georgia two years ago.

Mr Poroshenko, who rejected Georgia’s request for his extradition last month, announced that Odessa’s new governor had also been granted Ukrainian citizenship.

Donetsk People’s Republic chairman Andre Purgin called Mr Poroshenko’s decision “a mockery and an absolutely unprecedented step.”

Russian Prime Minister Dmitriy Medvedev referred to the appointment as a “Chapiteau-show,” in reference to a popular Russian farcical comedy.

It is unclear what Mr Saakashvili, who has a reputation for rash decisions such as launching his futile war against South Ossetia, can bring to Odessa.

The city is still smarting from the May 2014 slaughter of more than 40 people in and around the city’s trade union centre, which was petrol-bombed by pro-Kiev fascist groups who shot or beat to death anyone who escaped the inferno.

Despite coming to power in 2003 as the US-preferred candidate in the so-called Rose Revolution, pledging to end corruption and take Georgia into Nato and the EU, he was sent packing in 2013.

An opposition coalition, headed by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, revolted against his authoritarian rule, forcing him to leave office and homeland.

Two years earlier he had tried to revoke Mr Ivanishvili’s citizenship in a bid to hold onto power.

The current regime in Tbilisi sought his extradition from Ukraine on charges of ordering brutal attacks on opposition protesters, illegally raiding the Imedi TV offices and seizing property belonging to businessman Badri Patarkatsishvili.

He was also accused of having spent almost £300,000 of public funds on botox injections and depilation for himself and family members.

Mr Saakashvili denies the charges, calling them politically motivated, but he shows no desire to answer them in court.

Some observers speculate that the former Georgian leader’s close links with US politicians such as John McCain may prove useful to Mr Poroshenko.

However, Mr Poroshenko insists that he and Mr Saakashvili are simply “united by our love of Odessa and Ukraine.”