KIEV (Reuters) - Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili tendered his resignation as governor of Ukraine's southern Odessa region on Monday, accusing highly-placed officials in Kiev of obstructing his attempts at reform.
Saakashvili, who is widely credited with cracking down on graft when he was president of Georgia from 2004-2013, was appointed Odessa governor in May 2015 by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
Saakashvili has since repeatedly accused the Kiev leadership of lacking a real commitment to reform.
Vowing to continue to fight corruption which he said went to the very top of Ukraine's establishment, he told journalists: "I have decided to tender my resignation and start a new stage of the fight. I am not giving up."
In a clear rebuke of Poroshenko, he said: "In reality, in Odessa region, the President personally supports two clans."
Addressing journalists alongside Odessa customs chief Yulia Marushevska, he said the work of reform-minded public officials had been thwarted by higher authorities in Kiev interested in preserving the status quo.
Saakashvili, a bitter opponent of Russia, was one of several foreign politicians and technocrats to be given key posts by the pro-Western leadership in Kiev after the Moscow-backed president Viktor Yanukovich fled in the face of street protests.
They were brought in as part of a drive to eliminate entrenched corruption and rebuild on transparent lines a country riven by cronyism, bad economic management and separatist war in the east.
Since then, many have resigned or been dismissed.
In February, Economy Minister Earlier Aivaras Abromavicius, a Lithuanian, stepped down saying vested interests were blocking his ministry's work.
Later, a government shake-up booted US-born Finance Minister Natalia Yaresko and Western-backed Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk out of office. The appointment of Poroshenko ally Volodymyr Grosyman in his place was seen as a move by the president to consolidate power.
