Former soccer player Mikheil Kavelashvili has been inaugurated as president of Georgia in what the opposition calls a blow to the country’s EU aspirations and a victory for former imperial ruler Russia.

Georgia inaugurated on Sunday an ex-footballer turned far-right politician -- Mikheil Kavelashvili -- as Tbilisi's next figurehead president, after a controversial election process denounced as "illegitimate" by the current pro-EU leader.

Kavelashvili is a critic of the United States and the West. The country’ s outgoing pro-EU president has declared the incoming president "illegitimate." Georgia on Sunday inaugurated Mikheil Kavelashvili as the new president amid allegations his election was stolen.