| Saakashvili became Georgian “politician of the year” The main presidential candidate in Georgia in the January 4 elections, Mikheil Saakashvili, was recognized as “politician of the year.” This was shown by a traditional survey of foreign media correspondents accredited in Tbilisi. The leader of the United National Movement received twice as many votes as the acting one. President Nino Burjanadze, who took second place.
The results, announced on Sunday, became a gift for Mikheil Saakashvili, who celebrated his 36th birthday on December 21. In other times, all of Georgia on this day celebrated exclusively the birthday of Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin. Now Tbilisi newspapers, instead of greetings in honor of the leader of all times and peoples, print congratulations to Mikheil Saakashvili and his Dutch wife Sandra Roelofs, who celebrates her birthday on December 23.
The beautiful Sandra has already joined her husband's election campaign. She began her path to the title of First Lady from the dungeon, handing out leaflets in the Tbilisi metro. In Georgia they love her no less than her husband: in the Caucasus they appreciate the reverence shown by foreigners to its history and traditions. Sandra Rulovs has taken Georgia so close to her heart that she wears a pendant with the outline of her husband’s homeland on her chest. Ten years ago, before proposing marriage, Mikheil Saakashvili advised his chosen one, whom he met in Strasbourg, to read “The Knight in the Skin of a Tiger” by Shota Rustaveli in order to comprehend Georgian nature. If Sandra read this textbook of Georgians in English then, now she can easily do it in Georgian.
Sandra believes that her husband will be a worthy president of the country. Firstly, according to her, the protagonist of Georgia’s November “Rose Revolution” knows what he is getting into and is ready to lead Georgia to radical changes. Secondly, Mikheil Saakashvili does not smoke and almost completely ignores alcoholic drinks. Finally, Mishiko is keenly interested in the problems of his fellow citizens. “In our house, the bride was kidnapped, or the car was broken into by robbers, or one of the neighbors got sick - everything interests him,” says Sandra.
Before the elections, the Saakashvili-Rulov family is temporarily separated. For security reasons, the presidential candidate moved to the Krtsanisi government residence. Sandra and her 8-year-old son Eduard, named after her father (previously thought to be after Eduard Shevardnadze), remained at the same address. She is no stranger to independence. She says to herself that she is a “practical woman.” And he earns money by providing advisory assistance to businessmen coming from Holland and teaching French in Tbilisi, no less than his husband, the chairman of the city parliament.
In the school theater in high school, Mishiko almost always played heroes who died. Probably, the Georgian Security Council took this into account when they insisted on Saakashvili moving to the government residence in connection with operational information about a possible assassination attempt. In his adolescence, Saakashvili and his friends made an amateur film about the Italian mafia, in which he played a municipal deputy. “I wrote the script myself, inspired by the work of Damiano Damiani. Two clans against each other - mafia deputies, mafia ministers. In general, much of what I later encountered in real life. It was a funny film with an incredible number of murders,” recalls Mikheil Saakashvili. Very similar to modern Georgia. Mikhail VIGNANSKY, Tbilisi |
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