NEWSWATCH AFP: Controversial Russian politician named deputy in Ukraine (Maria Gaidar)

AFP reports on involvement in the Ukrainian political scene by Maria Gaidar, daughter of former Russian prime minister Yegor Gaidar.  She is nominated to work with former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili.

The nomination of a Russian politician to a top post in Odessa has caused a flurry of controversy in the tense political atmosphere of the violent Ukraine conflict.

Maria Gaidar, daughter of former Russian prime minister Yegor Gaidar, was nominated Friday as deputy to pro-Western former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili — who was recently named governor of the southwest Ukraine region of Odessa.

Gaidar, who is a vocal opponent of Vladimir Putin’s regime, has faced plenty of backlash following her nomination — mostly because she has previously said that Crimea, the contested peninsula in the Black Sea, belongs to Russia.

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