The stateless former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili defied President Petro Poroshenko and crossed the border into Ukraine, despite having no passport.

In what turned into a media circus, Saakashvili arrived at the Polish-Ukrainian border on August 10 to be confronted by a cordon of police and crowds of supporters. As he approached the line of police who had linked arms to prevent Saakashvili’s crossing, supporters surged around him and dragged him over the border.

Saakashvili was accompanied by the firebrand opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko.

In what has been widely condemned as a political move, Poroshenko stripped Saakashvili of his citizenship in July, claiming that he had not declared a corruption investigation against him in Georgia. The Georgian authorities have since applied to Ukraine to extradite Saakashvili.

The decision to remove Saakashvili’s passport is the latest in a string of attacks on Poroshenko’s possible opponents in Ukraine's upcoming 2019 elections.

Saakashvili's return to Ukraine turned into a media circus as the crowds shouted “victory” and “glory to Ukraine” at his approach. A topless member of the Femen protest group was also present before being carried away by a large group of policemen.

Saakashvili was previously a Poroshenko ally and given the governorship of Odessa, before the two men fell out. Saakashvili quit as governor of Odessa in November and has become increasingly outspoken against the ineffectiveness and corruption of the Poroshenko administration. Saakashvili has threatened to stand against the president in the upcoming elections, despite polling at less than 2%.

Saakashvili's entry to Ukraine in defiance of the police will further undermine Poroshenko’s increasingly unpopular administration and make it look weak. In a recent poll by GfK, Poroshenko’s eponymous party’s popularity had fallen to the point where it wouldn't even clear the 5% threshold to get into parliament if elections were held this Sunday.

Tymoshenko is leading the presidential election polls with 11% and was along for the ride, travelling with Saakashvili from Poland.

Saakashvili had tried to cross the border by train but the Ukrainian authorities refused the train permission to cross the border. The party then switched to a bus.

“I came with my Ukrainian passport, I wanted to show my passport and make a statement,” Saakashvili told supporters after arriving at the border. “Instead, the authorities arranged this circus.”

Speaking to reporters earlier in the Polish city of Rzeszow, Saakashvili said Poroshenko viewed him as an “existential threat”. “It looks like he is getting rid of a political opponent and no matter how many times he says that I am not a danger to him, every action of his shows exactly the opposite, that he regards me as a great and immediate danger,” he said.

It is not clear what will happen now. One option is the Ukrainian authorities will arrest Saakashvili for illegally entering the country and then extradite him to Georgia where he would face corruption charges.