Ukraine rejects Georgian request to extradite ex-president - Tbilisi

TBILISI (Reuters) - Ukrainian prosecutors have rejected a request to extradite Georgia's ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili and former justice minister Zurab Adeishvili, Georgia's chief prosecutor's office said on Tuesday.

Saakashvili and Adeishvili are wanted in Georgia over allegations that they exceeded their authority and other crimes.

The pair have left the South Caucasus country and are believed to be in Kiev, where Georgia put in a request for them to be detained and extradited.

"Ukrainian prosecutor-general's office did not cooperate with us on this issue and refused to extradite them," Georgia's chief prosecutor's office said in a statement.

Ukraine's prosecutor's office declined immediate comment.

In a surprise move, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko named Saakashvili as head of an advisory council last week. On Monday, Georgia called Ukraine's ambassador to a meeting to discuss the appointment.

Georgia watched with alarm when Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula last year and some officials in Tbilisi have portrayed the conflict in eastern Ukraine as an extension of Georgia's own brief war with Russia in 2008.

But officials have warned Ukraine that naming "wanted people" to official positions could damage bilateral relations.

(Reporting by Margarita Antidze in Tbilisi and Natalia Zinets,; Editing by Elizabeth Piper and Crispian Balmer)