Former Georgian president gets back Ukrainian citizenship
France24 informs that Ukraine's new President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday restored the Ukrainian citizenship of former Georgian leader Mikheil Saakashvili, less than two years after he was stripped of it and expelled.
BBC writes that Mr Saakashvili gave up his Georgian citizenship when he took the position of governor in Ukraine. But after holding the post for more than a year, he fell out with Mr Poroshenko and joined the opposition, leading anti-corruption rallies against his former ally.
Mr Saakashvili was stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship in 2017 but later re-entered the country, promising to confront the president.
He was then deported from Ukraine in February 2018 and banned from entering the country for three years.
Israel to hold new elections after Netanyahu coalition talks fail
The Guardian writes that Israel’s parliament has voted to dissolve itself after Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a government, in a move that will lead to a second round of elections just one month after the country held a national poll.
At a suspenseful gathering that ended weeks of unsuccessful bartering and brinkmanship, the Knesset voted to disperse and call new elections, set for 17 September.
It is reported that coalition talks stalled after far-right former defense minister Avigdor Lieberman, a Netanyahu ally-turned-rival, refused to back the prime minister.
Netanyahu needed support from Lieberman’s ultranationalist party, Yisrael Beiteinu, for a majority in Israel’s parliament.
The New York Times writes that after weeks of negotiations, Netanyahu’s plans ran aground on a power struggle between two blocs of his potential right-wing coalition — the secular ultranationalist and ultra-Orthodox factions — who refused to compromise on proposed legislation on military service.
Mr. Lieberman, whose five seats made him a kingmaker, said he supported Mr. Netanyahu but had refused to compromise with religious parties on a law that would end the wholesale exemption of ultra-Orthodox men from the military draft.
Prepared by Marina Muradyan