Senator Dobrynin urges Russian politicians not to overplay "Saakashvili theme"
MOSCOW. May 31 (Interfax) - The Federation Council, the upper house of parliament, does not think too much attention should be paid to former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili's appointment as governor of the Odesa region.
Vice Chairman of the Committee for Constitutional Legislation Konstantin Dobrynin told Interfax that he was somewhat surprised by the Russian authoritieis' exaggerated attention to Saakashvili's appointment. "Unfortunately, this only means that Saakashvili remains a rather serious irritant for the Russian elites," he said.
"This indicates that Petro Poroshenko and Mikheil Saakashvili have achieved their goals. They have provoked all of us to discuss a rather ordinary event in the life of the neighboring state, thus enforcing an agenda on us," he said.
Further moves to enflame the scandal surrounding this appointment would be out of place as a minimum, as this is playing into the opponents' hands, he said. "The most reasonable thing to do now would be to forget this issue for a time and allow Mr. Saakashvili to demonstrate his skills conspicuously and effectively as governor of the Odesa region, at least until he bungles up the job," Dobrynin said.
