Multiple sources are saying that Interior Minister Arsen Avakov will be sacked soon.
President Volodymyr Zelensky and his allies are said to want him out because of disloyalty. He has refused to vote for some of the National Security and Defense Council’s decisions. Zelensky has also hinted that Avakov could be fired due to his failure to successfully resolve the 2016 murder of Belarusian journalist Pavel Sheremet.
Getting rid of Avakov would be a great gift to Ukraine. Avakov has survived two presidents as a kingmaker and has dutifully served as a pillar of Ukraine’s lawlessness and kleptocracy. Due to his shady dealings with presidents and oligarchs, this grey cardinal has been entrenched in power since 2014 — far longer than a democratic government would tolerate.
His son and allies have been charged in graft cases and escaped punishment due to his influence. Video footage recorded by the Security Service of Ukraine clearly implicates both the minister and his allies. One of them, Avakov’s ex-aide Vasyl Petrivsky, has even been convicted of graft.
Avakov has also ruined Ukraine’s stillborn police reform by refusing to fire tainted officers. He has sabotaged investigations into crimes against protesters during the 2013–2014 EuroMaidan Revolution that ousted pro-Kremlin President Viktor Yanukovych.
But there is bad news: Avakov may be replaced with Zelensky’s notorious deputy chief of staff Oleh Tatarov, according to the Kyiv Post’s sources. There is a sad irony in this: Tatarov is as much a symbol of corruption and lawlessness as Avakov.
Tatarov was charged in December with bribing a forensic expert but the case has been destroyed by Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova, who is loyal to Zelensky. Former Ukrbud CEO Maxim Mykytas, a suspect in a theft case, has also testified that Tatarov gave a $600,000 bribe to employees of the High Anti-Corruption Court in 2019.
Despite being a corruption suspect, Tatarov has kept his job and is influencing the very anti-corruption bodies that are supposed to investigate him. Tatarov handpicked members of the commission for choosing the chief anti-corruption prosecutor, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Moreover, the 2014 lustration law forbids Tatarov from holding state jobs because he was a top police official under Yanukovych.
Both Avakov and Tatarov must be fired and investigated immediately. It’s a matter of values and principles. They and people like them are the reason why Ukraine has failed to transform from one of Europe’s poorest and most lawless countries into a Western liberal democracy.
It’s time for Zelensky to decide: is he with the Ukrainian people or with those who view the nation as a playground for self-enrichment and impunity?
