Arsen Avakov


Arsen Borysovych Avakov is a Ukrainian politician of Armenian descent who served as the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine from 2014 to 2021. He was the Chairman of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration from 2005 to 2010, a member of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine from 2007 to 2008 and from 2014 to 2021 and a member of the Verkhovna Rada from 2012 to 2014. Outside politics, Avakov was a member of Euro 2012 Organizing Committee in 2007 and a member of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine. He was awarded the Honored Economist of Ukraine in 2007.

Biography

Origin

Avakov was born on 2 January 1964 in Kirov settlement, Baku to a military family.
He is of Armenian descent. And of Armenian Apostolic faith
Since 1966 he has been permanently residing in Ukraine. Citizen of Ukraine.

Education and career

In 1988 he graduated from the Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute with a degree in Automated Control Systems, qualification – systems engineer.
In 1990, he founded and headed JSC “Investor”. In 1992 he founded the commercial bank “Basis”.
During the 2004 presidential campaign, he was deputy head of the Kharkiv headquarters of the presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko and the first deputy chairman of the Kharkiv regional “Committee of National Salvation”.

Head of the Kharkiv region

On 4 February 2005, by decree of the President of Ukraine, he was appointed to the position of Chairman of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration. After his appointment, he resigned as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of JSC “Investor” and JSCB “Basis”.
On 9 February 2010, two days after Viktor Yanukovych's victory in the presidential election, Avakov resigned from the post of Chairman of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration under Part 3 of Article 31 of the Law of Ukraine on Civil Service: “principled disagreement with the decision of a state body or official, as well as ethical obstacles to staying in public service”.

2010–2013

On 21 April 2010, he joined the “Batkivshchyna” political party and accepted the offer from Yulia Tymoshenko to head the regional organization of “Batkivshchyna”. He is a member of the political council of the party. In October 2010, he ran for the position of Kharkiv mayor, and together with a representative of CPU Alla Aleksandrovska was one of the main rivals of the acting mayor and the candidate from “Party of Regions” Hennadiy Kernes. After processing 100 per cent of the protocols, Kernes became the winner, and Arsen Avakov scored 29.46%. The elections themselves and the vote-counting procedure were held in a scandalous atmosphere with numerous violations. According to Freedom House, there is evidence that as a result of mass violations, the election result was changed in favour of Hennadiy Kernes.
Since the autumn of 2011, Avakov has been in Europe on the affairs of his own foundation, in particular, promoting the film “Armenian Heritage of Europe”.
Until December 2012, he was in political exile in Italy due to criminal prosecution in Ukraine.
According to the results of the autumn parliamentary elections of 2012, he was elected a Member of the Parliament of Ukraine on the lists of the united opposition “Batkivshchyna” Party. During the Revolution of Dignity, he was one of the commandants of Euromaidan, and dealt with the infrastructure of the protest camp: barricades, a tent city, and food supplies.

Minister of Internal Affairs

On 21 February 2014, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine appointed Arsen Avakov as Acting Minister, and on 27 February it approved Arsen Avakov as Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.
Immediately after his appointment, Arsen Avakov stated that the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine for the first time in the history of Ukraine will include representatives of the “Right Sector” and the Maidan Self-Defense.
Following the results of 100 days of work as a minister, among his main achievements, Avakov mentioned the prevention of a separatist scenario in Kharkiv; the restoration of the National Guard; and the successful work of the police during the 2014 presidential election.

Events in Kharkiv

On the night of 7 April 2014, Avakov personally led the assault operation on the building of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration, which had been seized by separatists and militants who came from Belgorod the day before.
The assault was carried out as part of the anti-terrorist operation in Kharkiv and the Kharkiv Oblast.
The special operation to liberate the Kharkiv Regional State Administration was carried out by the special forces unit “Jaguar” of the  Ministry of Internal Affairs under the direct supervision of the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Arsen Avakov and the operational management of the commander of the National Guard of Ukraine Stepan Poltorak.
The special operation was carried out entirely within the framework of legislative norms: the day before, a decree was signed by Acting President Oleksandr Turchynov “On conducting an anti-terrorist operation on the territory of Kharkiv and the Kharkiv Oblast”. On the basis of the Decree, a corresponding order was issued to conduct a special operation by the regional department of the Security Service of Ukraine, since anti-terrorist activities are the area of responsibility of the SSU.
Before the start of the assault, the Kharkiv metro was stopped, and the city center was cordoned off by local police and cadets of the National Guard Military Academy of Ukraine and the University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The invaders were warned over the loudspeaker about the start of the operation and their rights were read out. The operation in the building of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration lasted 17 minutes. Firearms did not have to be used. As a result of the operation, 67 people were detained.
In 2020, Avakov published a book about the events in Kharkiv “2014. Moments of the Kharkiv Spring”, where he added a unique document – “Plan for Kharkiv and the Kharkiv Region”, the plan of the separatists to seize the Kharkiv Oblast and further plans to seize the eastern regions of Ukraine.

Poroshenko's presidency

On 29 July 2014, Avakov announced the Ministry’s plans to replace about 20,000 police officers in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions who had discredited themselves during the events of 2014 in these regions.
On 26 August, Arsen Avakov announced the creation of a new Political party - the “People's Front”. On September 10, he joined the military council of this party.
On 22 October, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the Concept and Strategy for Reforming the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
In addition, 15,000 policemen in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, who remained in the territories controlled by the armed formations of the DPR and LPR, were dismissed from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and deprived of social guarantees.
On 9 October 2014, Avakov announced the beginning of lustration in his Ministry after the entry into force of the relevant law, which was signed the day before by the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, By the end of October, 91 employees were dismissed.
On 11 November 2014, Arsen Avakov published the documents on the reform of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, as well as the composition of the expert council and consultants who, together with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, developed a reform strategy.
On 2 December 2014, a coalition in the Verkhovna Rada formed by “Petro Poroshenko Bloc”, “People's Front”, “Self Reliance”, “Radical Party of Oleh Liashko” and “Batkivshchyna” created a draft of a new government, where Arsen Avakov retained the post of head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. The Verkhovna Rada adopted this composition of the government with 288 votes. According to the legislation, the parliament prematurely dismissed 4 MPs, elected from the People's Front party: Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Arsen Avakov, Vyacheslav Kyrylenko, and Pavlo Petrenko.
After the resignation of the second government of Yatsenyuk on 14 April 2016, and the formation of a new government headed by Volodymyr Groysman, Arsen Avakov retained the post of Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.
On 1 October 2017, Anton Gerashchenko, a former adviser to Avakov, said that there had been a conflict between the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Petro Poroshenko since the latter's election as president of Ukraine in 2014. According to Gerashchenko, Avakov considers Poroshenko's desire to "concentrate all power over law enforcement agencies in his hands" to be a "dangerous precedent".

The Markiv’s case

On 30 June 2017, Vitalii Markiv, senior sergeant, squad commander of the Kulchitsky battalion of the National Guard of Ukraine, was detained in Italy on suspicion of involvement in the death of photojournalist Andrea Rocchelli and Russian citizen Andrei Mironov in the city of Sloviansk in May 2014.
Immediately after the arrest of Markiv, Arsen Avakov declared the innocence of the National Guardsman, the bias of the court, and the use of fake evidence falsified by Russia. Avakov initiated the National Police of Ukraine's own investigation, during which a number of investigative actions were carried out and evidence was obtained of the innocence of the National Guardsman Vitalii Markiv in the death of the Italian photojournalist Andrea Rocchelli and Russian national Andrei Mironov in 2014.
Throughout the trial of the Markiv case from 2017 to 2020, Minister Avakov supervised its progress, repeatedly met with representatives of the Italian embassy, facilitated the work of lawyers, and attended all court hearings in the cities of Pavia and Milan.
Avakov was also present at the meeting of the Milan Court of Appeal, which dropped all charges against Vitalii Markiv. At the end of the final meeting, Avakov initiated the immediate release of Markiv from prison and on the same evening organized his flight to Kyiv on a charter flight, which he paid for.
From the first day of Markiv's detention on 30 June 2017, until his release on 3 November 2020, Minister Avakov took a consistent position – the state is obliged to protect its citizen, who has become an instrument of the hybrid war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, using all its institutions, diplomatic tools and work with the Ukrainian diaspora in Italy. His slogan "We will not leave our soldier behind" became a meme on the Internet, and banners in defense of Markiv were placed on the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, all regional departments of the National Police of Ukraine, including one on the Sophia Square, the main square of Kyiv, and even during football matches.