Editor’s note: Every week Kyiv Post journalist Oleg Sukhov picks a winner and loser in Ukraine’s drive to transform itself into a rule-of-law, European-style democracy.
Reformer of the week – Oleksandr Kunitsky
Oleksandr Kunitsky is the only member of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Servant of the People party who publicly opposed the re-appointment of Arsen Avakov as interior minister on Aug. 29.
He abstained from voting for Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk’s Cabinet because of Avakov. The appointment of Avakov was part of a package vote for Honcharuk’s Cabinet.
“I’m decidedly against Avakov continuing to head the ministry,” he said on Sept. 4.
Unlike Zelensky, Kunitsky refused to compromise with someone accused of being one of the pillars of Ukrainian corruption for the alleged sake of the greater good.
The costs of such a compromise may be devastating for Ukraine’s police, which is still lawless and unaccountable. They will also be pernicious for the police investigations into the murders of and assaults on about a hundred activists, in which there is no progress.
Police violence will be as rampant as before. Examples of such violence include the murder of a man by police officers in the city of Kryve Ozero in 2016, violent crackdowns on protesters in Dnipro in 2017 and in Kyiv in 2018 and the killing of a five-year-old boy by police officers in June.
Avakov’s alleged usefulness for Zelensky or any of his alleged upsides do not nullify the solid corruption charges against his allies and the video footage that implicates both him and his associates in graft, although he denies the corruption accusations.
Anti-Corruption Prosecutor Nazar Kholodnytsky closed the corruption case against Avakov’s son Oleksandr last year as part of a political bargain with the powerful minister. Until Avakov and Kholodnytsky are fired, Zelensky’s promises to fight corruption will sound as insincere as his predecessor Petro Poroshenko’s.
Anti-reformer of the week – Arsen Avakov
The re-appointment of Arsen Avakov as interior minister on Aug. 29 is one of the momentous decisions that may derail Volodymyr Zelensky’s presidency and his ambitious reform plans.
The continuation of Avakov’s tenure is a symbol of Zelensky’s compromise with the old corrupt elite. It is also at odds with the demands of his electorate, which has clearly backed replacing the whole discredited government with new people of integrity.
Interior Minister Arsen Avakov’s ex-deputy Serhiy Chebotar, the Interior Ministry’s State Secretary Oleksiy Takhtai and state firm Spetsvervis CEO Vasyl Petrivsky, an ex-aide to Avakov, negotiate an alleged corrupt deal to sell sand at a rigged auction in Chebotar’s office.
Avakov’s appointment is likely payback for his independent position during the April 21 presidential election, when he investigated alleged vote buying and voting fraud in favor of ex-President Petro Poroshenko, Zelensky’s main competitor.
But this does not exempt Avakov for responsibility for his alleged corruption, sabotage of police reform and failure to investigate high-profile cases.
Interior Minister Arsen Avakov’s son Oleksandr and his ex-deputy Serhiy Chebotar discuss a corrupt scheme to supply backpacks to the National Guard in Chebotar’s office.
Unfortunately, Zelensky’s Servant of the People party voted almost unanimously for Avakov’s appointment, turning into a blind tool of the president. There is a fear that the Verkhovna Rada may thus transform into a rubber-stamp parliament instead of checking and balancing the president and speaking truth to power.
Surprisingly, those who voted for Avakov include some lawmakers with a reformist background, including Anastasia Krasnosilska, a former expert at the Anti-Corruption Action Center, as well as Dmytro Natalukha, Sviatoslav Yurash and Ruslan Stefanchuk.
They backed a compromise with someone accused of being a symbol of Ukrainian corruption, apparently hoping that it would allow them to do something good later. But it may well turn out to be a deal with the Devil.
As long as Avakov is in power, there will be no police reform, and all law enforcement reforms will be jeopardized.
Interior Minister Arsen Avakov’s deputy Vadym Troyan and his ex-deputy Serhiy Chebotar discuss revenues from the traffic police and extorting money from businesspeople.
