31 December 2011, 10:00
Bidzina Ivanishvili asks for Georgian citizenship
The billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, who has recently announced his intention to go into politics, has addressed the official structures of Georgia with a request to assign Georgian citizenship to him.
Earlier, Bidzina Ivanishvili and his wife Ekaterina Khvedelidze were deprived of their Georgian citizenship under a decree of the president of Georgia. On December 29, Mr Ivanishvili officially renounced his French citizenship, and on December 26 he lost his Russian citizenship.
"After my statement, I'll address the official bodies of Georgia with a request to give me the citizenship, because I have no citizenship of any other country. I was born in Georgia, I live here, and they have no reason to reject my appeal," said Ivanishvili.
According to his story, the French Foreign Ministry will wait until he is awarded the citizenship of Georgia, and only after that he will be deprived of his French citizenship, the GHN writes.
Ivanishvili does not hide that he needs Georgian citizenship in order to get fully involved in the political life of his country. By the law, the president of Georgia is obliged to respond to Ivanishvili's application within three months, the Radio Station "Echo of the Caucasus" reports.
