Saakashvili Detained, Home Searched By Ukraine's Security Service
By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
KYIV -- Former Georgian President and ex-Odesa Governor Mikheil Saakashvili has been detained by Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) in Kyiv.
SBU spokeswoman Olena Hitlyanska told RFE/RL on December 5 that a search of Saakashvili's apartment was conducted along with investigators from the Prosecutor-General's Office. She did not mention the reason for the search.
Media reports in Ukraine quoted Saakashvili's associate, David Sakvarelidze, as saying that Saakashvili was on the roof of the eight-story apartment building where he lives while the SBU searched his apartment.
He was later taken from the roof by SBU officers and taken to a car outside his apartment building. But the car was unable to leave the site as dozens of people blocked its path.
Video on Facebook showed dozens of riot police around the apartment building preventing people from entering the premises.
The search of Saakashvili's home was conducted two days after his Movement of New Forces party organized a mass rally in Kyiv demanding the impeachment of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
Thousands of demonstrators dispersed peacefully after marching through the city center and holding a rally in downtown Kyiv.
The protests were initially called by Saakashvili, a onetime Poroshenko ally, but many of Ukraine's opposition political leaders also joined the demonstrations.
From 2004 to 2013, Saakashvili was president of Georgia, where he is wanted on suspicion of trying to organize a coup there after his exit from office, allegations he denies.
In 2015, he was appointed by Poroshenko to be governor of the Odesa region and surrendered his Georgian citizenship to take the post.
However, Saakashvili resigned in November 2016, saying his reform efforts had been blocked by Poroshenko's allies.
Saakashvili was then stripped of Ukrainian citizenship by Poroshenko in June 2017 in a move he is challenging in court.
Poroshenko has said the real goal of the protest organizers is to destabilize Ukraine.
With reporting by UNIAN and Ukraiynska Pravda
U.S. Prosecutors Say Manafort Wrote Op-Ed On Ukraine With Colleague In Russia
By RFE/RL
Prosecutors investigating Russia’s alleged meddling in the U.S. presidential election have accused President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, of working with a colleague "assessed to have ties" to a Russian intelligence service to draft an opinion piece about his work for Ukraine.
In court filings, the prosecutors working with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team said on December 4 that Manafort and the colleague sought to publish the op-ed under someone else's name and intended it to influence public opinion about his work.
They said Manafort's request to lift his house arrest should be denied because, had it been published, the draft opinion piece would have violated a court order not to publicly discuss the case.
The op-ed was being drafted as late as last week.
Prosecutors did not name the colleague but said the person is based in Russia.
Manafort and three other people have been criminally charged in connection with Mueller's investigation.
Manafort and his business associate Rick Gates were indicted in October on charges that included conspiracy and lying to federal agents.
Former foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos has pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents and was cooperating with Mueller’s investigators.
On December 1, Michael Flynn, who briefly served as U.S. national security adviser under Trump, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia.
Russia denies it meddled in last year's election, despite what U.S. intelligence officials say is powerful evidence, and Trump denies there was any collusion between his associates and Russia.