LONDON: Ukrainian opposition leader Mikheil Saakashvili was deported to Poland after being detained in Kiev by law enforcement agents.
Saakashvili was deported on February 12.
According to The Independent, associates of the former Georgia President said that he was detained by armed men in camouflage at a restaurant in Kiev and driven to the airport.
Earlier last week, Saakashvili's lawyer said that he could face imminent deportation or extradition after he lost a court appeal.
Further, a spokesman for the Ukrainian border guards, Oleh Slobodyan, on Facebook said that the agency's personnel had to use force to counter his supporters at the airport.
"This person was on Ukrainian territory illegally and therefore, in compliance with all legal procedures, he was returned to the country from where he arrived," The Independent quoted Slobodyan as saying.
Saakashvili entered Ukraine in September 2017, despite being stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship in a protracted standoff with authorities in Kiev, whom he had accused of corruption.