From our news desk:
Saakashvili Rallies Supporters As Kyiv Moves To Extradite Him
Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has called upon his supporters in Ukraine to protect him from Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
"Poroshenko wants to extradite me," Saakashvili said in a statement broadcast on the NewsOne television outlet on October 24. "I ask Kyiv residents and all other honest people for protection."
Earlier in the day, Ukrainian Prosecutor-General Yuriy Lutsenko announced that the country's migration service had rejected Saakashvili's application for refugee status.
"As a result, he is now a stateless person and there are no special obstacles excluding him from deportation or extradition," Lutsenko said.
Saakashvili's lawyer, Pavel Bogomazov, told Russia's RIA Novosti that his client has not received a rejection from the migration authorities.
Saakashvili is wanted in Georgia on suspicion of trying to organize a coup there, allegations he denies.
In 2015, Poroshenko appointed Saakashvili governor of Ukraine's Odesa region. He surrendered his Georgian citizenship in order to take the post. In November 2016, however, Saakashvili resigned, saying that his reform efforts had been blocked by Poroshenko's allies.
In June 2017, Poroshenko revoked Saakashvili's Ukrainian citizenship, saying that he had withheld information during the application procedure.
Saaksashvili reentered Ukraine in September, even though his Ukrainian passport was invalid.
Lutsenko also said on October 24 that Kyiv was preparing to expel 20 Georgian supporters of Saakashvili who have set up tents for a round-the-clock protest outside Ukraine's parliament. He said the men had received residence permits under false pretenses and were now planning a "forcible seizure of power."
"There are all necessary grounds for expelling these 20 people from Ukraine and this is being carried out now by forces of the Ukrainian Migration Service," Lutsenko said.
Saakashvili's supporters set up tents outside the parliament on October 17, calling for Poroshenko to enact anticorruption reforms. Other opposition groups have since joined in the demonstration.
At least 10 people were arrested after police used tear gas against demonstrators on October 18.
With reporting by Meduza, RIA Novosti, and dpa
Another item from our news desk:
Russia's Pussy Riot Protests For Imprisoned Ukrainian Filmmaker Inside Trump Tower
Members of the Russian performance-art collective Pussy Riot have carried out a protest in support of jailed Ukrainian filmmaker Oleh Sentsov at Trump Tower in New York City.
Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina posted on social media on October 24 photographs and video of three masked women unfurling a large banner with the slogan "Free Sentsov" inside the skyscraper that is owned by U.S. President Donald Trump and is where he lived before moving to the White House in January.
Sentsov was arrested in the Ukrainian region of Crimea in 2014 following its illegal annexation by Russia. A Russian court in 2015 convicted him and co-defendant Oleksandr Kolchenko of planning to commit terrorist acts. Both men deny the accusations. Sentsov is currently serving a 20-year term in a Russian prison, while Kolchenko is serving a 10-year term.
Western governments and rights organizations have called for Sentsov and Kolchenko to be released, and the Russian Memorial human rights center considers both men political prisoners.
Alyokhina is currently touring with a play about three artists in prison, one of whom is Sentsov.
Pussy Riot gained global notoriety in 2012 when three members of the collective, including Alyokhina, performed a punk song inside Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral.
The three defendants -- Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, and Yekaterina Samutsevich -- were convicted of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" and sentenced to two years in prison.
Samutsevich's sentence was suspended on appeal. Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova were released in December 2013 as part of an amnesty for nonviolent offenders.