The former President of Georgia has revealed he warned world leaders Vladimir Putin would assault Kyiv again in 2008 and so they checked out him "like he was crazy".

In a world unique interview with Express.co.uk Misha Saakashvili, who's at present incarcerated in his homeland, claimed he was given the chilly shoulder for highlighting the hazard of a Russian invasion.

“I warned everyone and they looked at me like I was crazy,” he defined in a hand-written assertion from his jail cell.

Saakashvili rose to energy in the course of the Georgian nationalist Rose Revolution again in 2004 and gained worldwide consideration in the course of the Russo-Georgian conflict in South Ossetia 4 years later.

Since dropping the presidency a decade in the past, he has been hit by prison prices in his homeland, allegations he believes are political score-settling and a part of an try by the present “Russia-influenced” Georgian authorities to appease their highly effective neighbour.

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Saakashvili, who has spent giant elements of the previous decade residing and dealing in Ukraine, believes his 2008 conflict with Russia was one of many causes his warnings about Kyiv fell on deaf ears.

He claims to have informed leaders that conflicts within the Crimea and Donbas areas, which pre-empted the principle offensive, had been a threat and was ignored.

“They thought I was simply bitter after 2008,” he continued, “media described me as ‘impulsive’ and ‘volatile’.

“I warned about Crimea and Donbas well in advance. Being in Ukraine, I warned many times publicly about the possibility of an attack on Kyiv.

“People tend to shrug off undesirable information. At certain moments they stopped inviting me to conferences because they didn’t want to hear my predictions. One Western leader called my statements a ‘red herring’,” he added.

Saakashvili informed Express.co.uk he believes the battle he had with Russia as Georgian president again in 2008 was one step in a technique that finally led to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“Georgia was the first try in the post-Soviet space. He tested Western reactions and moved on,” he defined.

When requested what comparisons could possibly be drawn with Ukraine and whether or not a conflict in Georgia was a chance Saakashvili stated: “Georgia is now fully dependent on the outcome of Ukraine. Once Ukraine wins, Georgia will be safe.”

Saakashvili’s controversial detention has been characterised by his supporters as proof of the Russian affect in Georgia.

Since he returned to his homeland in 2021 1000's have protested his detention, however the nation’s management has been steadfast in its willpower to maintain him in jail.

“His current detention is perhaps emblematic of the spiralling threat to democracy that Georgia country now faces,” commented David Kezerashvili, who was Saakashvili’s Minister of Defence in the course of the Russia-Georgia conflict in 2008.

“While the Georgian government says it wants to be taken seriously as an aspiring member of the European Union and NATO, many suspect its true allegiances are to Moscow. Until Saakashvili is free, those suspicions are likely to remain.”

Stay tuned to Express.co.uk for extra unique content material from our world-exclusive interview with Saakashvili.

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