TBILISI, Georgia (AFP)--Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said on Tuesday he was "worried" by the collapse of the governing pro-Western coalition in Ukraine, with which Georgia is allied in trying to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
"We are very worried. I've been in contact with President Yushchenko," Saakashvili told AFP.
The "things that are happening there, there are also signs of lots of outside interference and meddling," Saakashvili said, apparently referring to giant neighbor Russia, with which Georgia fought a brief war last month.
"This is unfortunate. Ukrainians should be allowed and able to sort out things on their own. Ukraine should not be manipulated by any foreign power and I personally see signs of that," he said.
Saakashvili is a close ally of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko in trying to integrate with the West and particularly with the NATO alliance.
He was speaking at the close of a visit by NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer intended to bolster Georgia's NATO membership course.