Is Arsen Avakov invincible? - Jun. 05, 2020

Interior Minister Arsen Avakov is Ukraine’s biggest paradox.

Mired in corruption scandals, with slight electoral support and little success in solving high-profile crimes, the businessman from Kharkiv remains Ukraine’s longest-serving top official despite his unpopularity with large segments of society.

In fact, despite a growing movement to oust him, he seems more powerful than ever.

What’s the secret to his success? An ability to choose his allies well and switch them as required, analysts say.

Avakov has remained in power since 2014, commanding an army of 200,000 law enforcers in the Interior Ministry. Some describe him as Ukraine’s “second-in-command” after President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has called him “one of the most effective state officials.”

“I’m not even sure he’s the second-in-command,” quipped Dmytro Bulakh, head of the Kharkiv Anti-Corruption Center, of Avakov’s status as rivaling Zelensky in influence. “Maybe he’s not the first, but not the second either.”

Avakov has served under two presidents (three, if acting president Oleksandr Turchynov’s three-month stint in 2014 is counted) and four prime ministers. He looks entrenched, given his ability to cultivate ties with oligarchs and across the political spectrum, said political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko.

“Avakov has good political intuition and flexibility — qualities of a true politician,” Fesenko said.

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But the calls to oust Avakov are getting louder. On June 2, the 20-member opposition faction Voice started a campaign to collect lawmakers’ signatures to fire Avakov. After three days, they collected only about 50 out of 150 needed signatures, mostly coming from the Voice and the Servant of the People.

But the campaign is more of a political statement than a genuine effort: Even if the lawmakers collect the signatures, the parliament can fire Avakov only if Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal initiates the vote.

And the interior minister has the uncanny ability to find himself on the winning side, even when going against his business partners and friends.

“He has always been able to adapt and is a talented communicator,” Fesenko said. “He always found on whom to bet when the environment changed. He never vacillated in choosing a new ally.”

Throughout his career, he has struck political deals with allies from virtually all quarters, at one point even serving as regional head of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s Batkivshchyna party.

Avakov has denied all accusations of corruption, wrongdoing, and failure to promote reforms, particularly in the police. He did not respond to requests for an interview for this story, nor to specific questions sent to his two spokespeople. In his six years in the office, he’s shown a preference to communicate with the public on social media over interviews with journalists.

Omnipotent minister

Avakov got his chance at political power in the 2013–2014 EuroMaidan Revolution, which ousted former President Viktor Yanukovych. As the revolution unfolded, he oversaw events in his native Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city.

After Yanukovych fled Ukraine in February 2014, Avakov was appointed interior minister.

He initially forged a tactical alliance with ex-President Petro Poroshenko, who was elected in May 2014, as part of a coalition between Avakov’s People’s Front party and the Poroshenko Bloc. But they fell out quickly as the rivalry between the parties grew.

Avakov also allied himself with business magnate Ihor Kolomoisky in 2014 when they began creating volunteer battalions fighting Russia and its proxies in eastern Ukraine, Fesenko said. This alliance appears to have remained in place.

Kolomoisky has called Avakov a friend and supported his re-appointment last year as interior minister. But the oligarch denied being his political ally in a comment for the Kyiv Post.

The minister’s influence on volunteer units and nationalist groups has helped to prop up his power.

One of Ukraine’s most prominent nationalists, Andriy Biletsky, and Avakov have known each other since Avakov’s time as the governor of Kharkiv Oblast in 2005 to 2010. Biletsky, also from Kharkiv, set up the Patriot of Ukraine far-right group in 2005.

When Avakov moved to Kyiv and took over the Interior Ministry in 2014, Biletsky followed. He led the Azov volunteer regiment, which was subordinated to Avakov’s Interior Ministry, and later took charge of the National Corps, a nationalist political party. Biletsky became the face of the nationalist scene.

“Azov has become one of Avakov’s most successful projects,” Fesenko said. “Biletsky has been under Avakov’s patronage and Avakov launched Biletsky’s (political) career. There have been coordination and contacts between Avakov and Biletsky.”

Biletsky and Avakov have downplayed their links, arguing that each is independent of the other.

Zelensky’s kingmaker

In the 2019 presidential election, Avakov again made the right bet by effectively backing Poroshenko’s rivals and investigating alleged voting fraud by the former president.

Avakov’s party, People’s Front, didn’t even run for parliament in 2019 due to low ratings, yet Zelensky re-appointed Avakov as minister in August 2019 and again in March after a government reshuffle.

Avakov’s influence isn’t limited to domestic affairs.

Interior Minister Arsen Avakov has direct authority over 360,000 people and $3.5 billion, which equates to 2.5% of Ukraine’s GDP.

He accompanied Zelensky on his trip to Paris, took part in the four-sided Normandy Format meeting on the future of Donbas and met Pope Francis in the Vatican.

In 2019, he was also appointed head of the Intergovernmental Cooperation Commission between Ukraine and France.

Zelensky apparently thinks Avakov protects him from radicals in the streets and uncertainty in top government offices, thus “maintaining stability,” Fesenko said.

Anti-corruption activists argue that Avakov could help Zelensky crackdown on protests against his administration.

Vitaly Shabunin, head of the Anti-Corruption Action Center’s executive board, has argued that Avakov may come in handy if Zelensky does or proposes something controversial — for example if he turns away from the West and starts drifting toward Russia’s orbit.

“There is some kind of an agreement among Avakov, Zelensky, and Kolomoisky, and it’s apparently being implemented,” political analyst Vitaly Bala told the Kyiv Post.

Projecting power

Avakov’s reach extends far beyond his ministry.

He has links to Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova. The prosecutor’s brother, Serhiy Venediktov, was the lead lawyer for Avakov’s natural gas business between 2008 and 2016, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Schemes show.

Venediktova’s husband, Denys Kolesnyk, was a low-level Kharkiv police officer before suddenly receiving a promotion in November and becoming a deputy head of Ukraine’s cyber police as part of Avakov’s ministry. The appointment occurred after his wife became a lawmaker from Zelensky’s party in July.

Venediktova became prosecutor general in March after a campaign led by lawmakers linked to Kolomoisky and Avakov toppled her predecessor, Ruslan Riaboshapka.

Parliament is also stacked with Avakov’s former colleagues and business partners.

Denys Monastyrsky, who used to be an assistant to Avakov’s deputy Anton Gerashchenko, heads the Verkhovna Rada’s law enforcement committee. He supported a bill that would expand the powers of the National Guard and conceal its budget, although the Rada rejected it on May 13.

Ilya Kyva, a member of the pro-Russian Opposition Platform — For Life party, was previously an aide to Avakov and is the head of the Interior Ministry’s labor union.

Avakov-linked lawmakers often vote in line with members close to Kolomoisky.

Both groups have backed the removal of Artem Sytnyk, the head of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau — an agency that has investigated both Kolomoisky and Avakov’s allies. Both supported the dismissal of Riaboshapka and the appointment of Venediktova and voted against a bill that bars the return of the nationalized PrivatBank to its former owner, Kolomoisky.

Lockdown czar

During the lockdown introduced during the COVID‑19 pandemic in March, Avakov has enhanced his profile and expanded his presence into areas that have nothing to do with his ministry. He has commented on the pandemic, suggested a plan to cope with the ensuing economic crisis and clashed with mayors who opposed the quarantine.

In April, the Rada passed a bill that increased funding for Avakov’s ministry as part of legislation aimed at helping the country battle COVID‑19.

The Bihus.info investigative journalism project on April 13 published video footage showing that current and former ministers, lawmakers and businessmen visited Avakov’s office during the lockdown.

“He has realized that he can use the lockdown in his own interests,” Fesenko said.

Toxic reputation

The biggest threat to Avakov’s power is his toxic reputation, unpopularity, and thin record of achievement in fighting corruption.

Last August, 24 civil society groups urged the Rada not to re-appoint him as minister, saying that “Avakov is associated with the old policy of corruption and hypocrisy.”

“Avakov is responsible for failing to reform the police, sabotaging the vetting of police officers, keeping tainted police officials and suspects in EuroMaidan cases in key jobs, failing to investigate attacks on civic activists and numerous corruption scandals linked to him and his inner circle,” they said in a joint statement.

In 2017, Avakov’s son Oleksandr and the minister’s ex-deputy, Serhiy Chebotar, were charged by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau with embezzling Hr 14 million ($550,000) by supplying overpriced backpacks to the Interior Ministry. They deny the accusations of wrongdoing.

Chief Anti-Corruption Prosecutor Nazar Kholodnytsky’s office, however, closed the case a year later. Vitaly Shabunin, head of the Anti-Corruption Action Center, was among many activists who accused Kholodnytsky of selling off the case. Kholodnytsky denied the allegation.

Activists wearing protective outfits hold a huge banner that reads “Avakov get out!” as they attend the rally “Anti-Avakovirus” in Kyiv, on Feb. 23, 2020. (Volodymyr Petrov)

The anti-corruption prosecutor’s office confirmed that a crime had taken place, yet IT firm Turboseo’s CEO Volodymyr Lytvyn agreed to a plea bargain and testified that Oleksandr Avakov and Chebotar had not been involved in the scheme. This version contradicts video footage showing Chebotar and Oleksandr Avakov negotiating the corrupt deal.

Other videos investigated by law enforcement also implicate the Interior Ministry’s state secretary, Oleksiy Takhtai, and Avakov’s former deputy, Vadym Troyan, in alleged corrupt schemes. They also deny the accusations.

Avakov denies any suggestion that he has blocked police reform. Anti-corruption activists left police vetting commissions in 2016, arguing that Avakov had made it impossible for them to oust corrupt officers.

Only 5,656 police officers, or about 6 percent of the police force, were eventually fired as a result of the vetting procedure. Many have been reinstated by the courts.

Avakov has also been under fire for a lack of progress in major police investigations, including stalled cases involving the murder of and assault on about 100 activists since the EuroMaidan Revolution.

In December, Avakov announced the detention of suspects in the 2016 murder of journalist Pavel Sheremet. However, no strong evidence has been presented by the police and prosecutors.

Resignation possible?

Despite Zelensky’s apparent affinity for Avakov, he may lose an ongoing power struggle.

A major risk for Avakov is that Zelensky and his team don’t consider him to be one of their own, according to Fesenko. They are also afraid, he said, of Avakov challenging Zelensky’s power. And that could be the reason why Avakov has not been promoted to the jobs he reportedly covets — prime minister or deputy prime minister.

In May, Zelensky gave a government job to Georgian ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili in what political analysts view as a counterbalance to Avakov.

Saakashvili, who became the head of the presidential Executive Reform Committee, has been in conflict with Avakov since 2015, when he quarreled with him at an official meeting and called him a thief. Avakov then threw a glass of water in his face.

Avakov’s resignation is possible, Fesenko said. “Zelensky’s government is entering a very turbulent period. We don’t even know what will happen in three months time.”

These are some of the criminal cases that Avakov is accused of sabotaging

Interior Minister Arsen Avakov’s police force stands accused of sabotaging high-profile investigations and being ineffective in solving any criminal cases. Avakov and the police denied such accusations. Below is a list of cases that have prompted public criticism.

Sheremet case

Belarusian journalist Pavel Sheremet was killed in a car explosion in Kyiv on July 20, 2016. Police reported no progress for years. In December 2019, Avakov announced the detention of suspects. The police completed the investigation in May and are preparing to send the case to trial. However, no strong evidence has been presented publicly by the police and prosecutors.

Attacks on activists

There have been at least 12 killings of activists and journalists in Ukraine since the EuroMaidan Revolution, which ousted President Viktor Yanukovych on Feb. 22, 2014. There have also been about 100 violent attacks on activists and journalists since the revolution, including at least six attempted murders. Most of the cases have been investigated by Avakov’s police. None of those who ordered the murders were found. Only in half of the murder cases, suspected hitmen were identified. None have been convicted yet. In 90 percent of the investigations into non-lethal attacks on activists, no suspects were found at all, according to Tetiana Pechonchyk, head of the Human Rights Information Center.

Gandziuk case

Kateryna Gandziuk, a whistleblowing municipal official, died in a hospital in November 2018 after numerous operations following an acid attack on her in Kherson in July 2018. The police initially arrested an apparent scapegoat, Mykola Novikov, as a suspect in the murder. Novikov was later released after Gandziuk’s friends carried out their own investigation and confirmed his alibi. The police’s failure led to the case being transferred to the Security Service of Ukraine. Five alleged perpetrators of the crime were convicted in June 2019. Suspected organizers are under investigation.

Nozdrovska case

Iryna Nozdrovska, a 38-year-old attorney who fought for the imprisonment of a drunk driver who killed her sister, was found dead in a river by the village of Demydove in Kyiv Oblast on Jan. 1, 2018. Yuriy Rossoshansky is a suspect in the case. However, the investigation triggered skepticism, with skeptics saying that it was unlikely that he acted alone. Moreover, Rossoshansky later claimed he did not murder Nozdrovska and was forced to admit his guilt by the police. Due to the inconsistencies of the case, Nozdrovska’s family and lawyers have demanded a new investigation of the murder. Meanwhile, in October 2018, a court sentenced Yuriy’s son Dmytro Rossoshansky to seven years’ imprisonment without the right to amnesty for the murder of Nozdrovska’s sister Svitlana Sapatinska. In February 2020 he was amnestied and released despite the earlier court ban on his amnesty.

EuroMaidan cases

Lawyers for EuroMaidan protersters and Sergii Gorbatuk, the former top investigator for EuroMaidan cases, have also accused Avakov of blocking investigations into the murder of dozens of protesters during the revolution and other crimes committed against demonstrators. Gorbatuk said that some EuroMaidan cases were initially investigated and blocked by the police before they were transferred to the Prosecutor General’s Office in 2014. Gorbatuk also said that Avakov’s police have refused to suspend offices accused of involvement in EuroMaidan crimes and to cooperate with EuroMaidan investigators.

Rape incident highlights failure of police reform under Avakov

Calls for Interior Minister Arsen Avakov’s resignation have intensified after two police officers were arrested for torturing and raping a woman in May.

The officers in question worked at a police station in Kaharlyk, a town of just under 14,000 people located 75 kilometers south of Kyiv.

In response to the case, the National Police of Ukraine suspended not only the two officers from duty, but also the whole staff of the Kaharlyk police station. All employees of the station will be vetted before being allowed to return to work.

The case highlights what critics of Interior Minister Arsen Avakov see as the government’s failure to reform the police and bring an end to lawlessness and violence in law enforcement.

The 26-year-old woman from Kaharlyk was brought to the police station on the night of May 23 to be questioned as a witness to an alleged theft. The police officers also allegedly tortured a man who was at the station at the same time.

Lawyer Masi Nayyem wrote on June 2 that more than 10 complaints about the suspects’ violence had been filed before the rape incident but they had been ignored.

This is not the first case of police violence under Avakov’s tenure.

In January, protests erupted in the city of Kakhovka in Ukraine’s southern Kherson Oblast after a former police officer allegedly murdered a local man. The main eyewitness to the murder was a police officer acquainted with the suspect.

In June 2019, drunken police officers in the town of Pereyaslav-Khmelnytsky in Kyiv Oblast allegedly shot a five-year-old boy, Kyrylo Tliavov, in the head while shooting at tin cans for target practice. Tliavov died in a Kyiv hospital several days later. Two suspects charged with killing him were released from custody in May 2020.

In 2016, protests erupted after the wife of Oleksandr Tsukerman called the police after a quarrel with her husband in the town of Kryve Ozero in Mykolayiv Oblast. According to eyewitness testimony, six police officers beat and killed Tsukerman.

Arsen Avakov’s path from Kharkiv to Kyiv

2002 – appointed to the Executive Committee of the Kharkiv City Council.

2004 – appointed deputy head of the Kharkiv Oblast campaign headquarters of presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko during the 2004 presidential elections.

2005-2010 – serves as governor of Kharkiv Oblast.

2010 – backs Yulia Tymoshenko during the 2010 presidential elections. She loses to Viktor Yanukovych.

April 21, 2010 – joins Tymoshenko’s Batkivshchyna party.

2012-2014 – represents Batkivshchyna in parliament.

Feb. 22, 2014 – appointed acting interior minister.

Feb. 27, 2014 – appointed interior minister in the government of Arseniy Yatsenyuk.

Dec 8, 2014 – reappointed interior minister in the government of Arseniy Yatsenyuk.

April 14, 2016 – reappointed interior minister in the government of Volodymyr Groysman.

Aug. 29, 2019 – reappointed interior minister in the government of Oleksiy Honcharuk.

March 4, 2020 – reappointed interior minister in the government of Denys Shmyhal.