Daughter of prominent Russian reformer appointed vice-governor of Ukraine’s Odessa region

Mikheil Saakashvili, the newly-appointed governor of Ukraine’s Odessa region, wrote on his page in Facebook on Friday that he wanted Russian public figure Maria Gaidar to become his deputy.

Maria Gaidar is the daughter of Yegor Gaidar, an ideologist of liberal economic reforms in Russia in the 1990s. He was Russia’s acting prime minister from April to December 1992. He also held prominent state government posts under President Boris Yeltsin.

“Today, I appointed Maria Gaidar to the post of deputy of the Odessa regional state administration. Maria is a brilliant political leader in Russia …She is an economist. She studied at the Academy of National Economy in Moscow and at Harvard University. I personally knew and respected her father Yegor Gaidar,” Saakashvili wrote.
According to him, Maria Gaidar is applying for the Ukrainian citizenship.