Russian businessman hopes for Georgian citizenship so he can run for president

Alexander Yebralidze, an ethnic Georgian citizen of the Russian Federation, has appealed to Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to grant him Georgian citizenship so that he can run for president there, Lenta.ru reports. Yebralidze is opposed to Saakashvili’s policies, but is confident that the Georgian president will give him citizenship anyway.

Yebralidze is a native of Batumi, in the Georgian autonomous republic of Adjara. He has lived in Russia since the early 1970s and is the co-owner of the Talion company, which has interests in restaurants, hotels, gaming, construction and other industries. Lenta.ru estimated Yebralidze’s holdings to be worth $300 million. Yebralidze has a criminal record that includes convictions for armed robbery and “hooliganism.”

Yebralidze was also accused by Givi Targamadze, chairman of the Georgian parliament’s defense committee, of involvement in the mutiny at the Mukhrovani military base in Georgia in May of this year. Targamadze made his accusations on Georgian television. Yebralidze had already expressed his intention of running for president of Georgia at that time. He denied any involvement in the mutiny.

Targamadze claimed that Yebralidze had links to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. That claim was also made by the Kommersant newspaper. Yebralidze has responded that he is not personally acquainted with Putin.