Arsen Avakov

 ( 1964 Births ) 

Under the leadership of Avakov, lustration and large-scale re-certification of police officers were carried out in the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

On 23 September 2014, it was announced that in the course of the reform of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the militia would be transformed into the “National Police”, and the Main Anti-Organized Crime Directorate (GUBOP), Transport and Veterinary Police “will be excluded from the structures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs”. In October 2014, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov confirmed that the reform would eliminate the Main Anti-Organized Crime Directorate, the Transport, and Veterinary Police “and a number of other units”.

On 7 November 2015, the Law of Ukraine “On the National Police” came into force, which put an end to the existence of the old Soviet militia system. The National Police also included the Patrol Police of Ukraine, created on the initiative of Avakov, which was fully formed from young (up to 36 years old) people who passed a transparent selection: computer testing, physical fitness tests, a military medical commission, and a commission interview. The training included both the acquisition of theoretical knowledge and the mastery of the practical skills necessary for the service. Therefore, professional instructors and trainers were involved in the training process of future patrolmen. Partners from Georgia, the United States, and Canada also actively assisted in the training of new patrolmen.

The First Reserve Battalion of the newly created National Guard (now the Operational Battalion named after the Hero of Ukraine, General Kulchytskyi of the National Guard of Ukraine, as part of military unit 3066 (Kyiv), formed from the 1st and 2nd reserve battalions of the National Guard of Ukraine) took the oath of office on 5 April 2014, and on 15 April 2014 was sent to the Sloviansk region (Donetsk Oblast) to repel military aggression by separatists and Russian militants. The first commander of the National Guard of Ukraine was Colonel-General Stepan Poltorak.

Another initiative of Arsen Avakov, which had a significant impact on the fact that the separatist pro-Russian movement was localized in eastern Ukraine and prevented the situation from being shaken throughout the country, was the creation of volunteer battalions (the Dobrobats) under the auspices of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in which volunteers were accepted under a simplified procedure. 35 such units participated in the fight against pro-Russian separatists in the Donbas in the spring of 2014.

The most famous of them, in addition to the Operational Battalion named after Hero of Ukraine, General Kulchytskyi of the National Guard of Ukraine, were Azov Brigade, Donbas Battalion, Dnipro-1. The Azov Battalion (now a special purpose regiment of the National Guard of Ukraine) played a decisive role in liberating Mariupol from separatists during 6 May–13 June 2014. During the 2022 Russian invasion in Ukraine, Azov, together with border guards and servicemen of the 36th Separate Marine Brigade of the Navy regiment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, took part in the defense of besieged Mariupol and the confrontation in Azovstal. On 20 May, on the 86th day of the blockade of Mariupol, the remnants of the garrison, complied with the leadership of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and stopped resisting and surrendered to Russian troops.

Volunteer battalions played a huge role in the first months of the hot phase of  the war in Donbas in 2014. In many ways, it was thanks to the Volunteer Battalions that it was possible to stop the offensive of separatists and Russian mercenaries and preserve the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine in 2014-2021. Since the autumn of 2014, all Volunteer Battalions have been integrated into the structures of the National Guard or the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

In 2019, Avakov's Ministry introduced the first options for a mobile application Diia – Ukrainian electronic service of public services, developed by Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine. The first digital documents to be accessed through the Diya application were Driver's license and Vehicle registration certificate. In 2020, electronic versions of ID-cards and biometric passports “For traveling abroad” became available in the Diia application.

On 23 May 2018, the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Arsen Avakov on behalf of the Government of Ukraine and the Secretary of State of the Ministry of Economy and Finance of France Delphine Gény-Stephann signed an intergovernmental agreement on behalf of the Government of France. As part of the agreement, the French government provided Ukraine with  55 modern Airbus Helicopters of the H125, H225 Super Puma and H145 models for a total of 551 million euros. Ukraine received these funds through an extremely friendly procedure – a special borrowing at 4.25% per annum from the State Treasury of France and a consortium of French banks. The main tasks of the aviation security system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine were: aeromedical evacuation, rescue operations, maintenance of public order, anti-terrorist and special operations, protection of the state border and road safety. All helicopters are multifunctional and, if necessary, they can be used to solve each of the tasks. On 7 June 2018, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine ratified an agreement with France on the purchase of 55 French helicopters for the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.

Also, for the first time, within the framework of cooperation with the OPORA Civil Network, trainings were held for prevention police officers and investigators of the National Police of Ukraine to identify and suppress violations of election campaigning. According to the statement of the Chairman of the Board of the All-Ukrainian Public Organization Civic Network "OPORA" Olha Aivazovska, an expert on electoral legislation and political processes, it was the only election campaign in her memory during which "the Ministry of Internal Affairs was not part of the electoral strategy of one of the candidates”. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and the National Police of Ukraine, on the initiative of Avakov, took the same strategy during the election campaigns of the early elections of the Parliament of Ukraine on 21 July 2019 and local elections on 25 October 2019.

In 2020, the Focus publication noted that “Arsen Avakov was called an "interim minister" in Zelensky's team, but already in December, Ukrainska Pravda assigned him the role of "political master Yoda under the young Jedi preZedent". And in the spring of this year, the situation changed so much that when one of the leaders of the presidential faction was asked if there was any fear that Avakov's political weight was growing every day, he replied: "How can you be afraid of what has already happened?".

• 2014 — No. 5;
• 2015 — No. 4;
• 2016 — No. 9;
• 2017 — No. 5;
• 2018 — No. 7;
• 2019 — No. 8;
• 2020 — No. 8;
• 2021 — No. 15.

According to the rating of the magazine New Voice, 100 most influential people of Ukraine:

• 2018 — No. 3;
• 2019 — No. 6;
• 2020 — No. 3;
• 2021 — No. 5.

Arsen Avakov is the co-chairman of the organizing committee of the International Festival of Science Fiction “Star Bridge”, which is engaged in holding the annual international festival of science fiction, publishing fantastic literature, social and educational activities in orphanages, schools, universities. In 2008–2010 he was the chairman of the Kharkiv regional branch of the National Olympic Committee.

By the beginning of the Orange Revolution, “Investor” JSC managed dozens of enterprises from various sectors of the economy. Among them are the oil and gas companies Investor-Neftegaz and Energia-95, CHPP-3 and the tea factory AHMAD TEA UKRAINE, the local supermarket chain Delight, the ATN television company, the developer Investor Elite Stroy, the Chichikov Hotel, the Saltovsky Bakery, 50% Channel 7 (the original brand PRAT RTMK TONIS-CENTER, Kharkiv), several radio stations. An Italian company “Investor” was engaged in the production of mozzarella. It also had its own bank “Basis”.

After going into politics, Avakov handed over the management of the business to partners and managers. Since 2010, Avakov's business has been subjected to raider attacks after he supported Yulia Tymoshenko, who lost to Viktor Yanukovych in the presidential election.

In the autumn of 2011, due to criminal prosecution, he left Ukraine, sold off his existing assets.

“During the two years that I spent in forced exile due to politically motivated criminal prosecution by the Yanukovych regime, my business was completely destroyed,” Avakov said in 2014.

Three years after the cancellation of the banking license of Basis, the court granted the claim, canceling the National Bank of Ukraine's decision on liquidation.

Since 2015, Avakov, as a civil servant, has submitted electronic declarations of his property and income, which are available on the National Agency on Corruption Prevention website.

In 2022, Avakov held a charity event “Turning wine into boots for the Armed Forces of Ukraine”, in which he sold his collection of wines collected in 2010-2011 at wine auctions, mainly in London and New York. The collection was kept in Avakov's apartment in Kharkiv and survived the bombing that damaged the house. As a result of the action, UAH 6,353,528 was collected. With the funds received, 2,500 pairs of tactical shoes for the military were purchased and transferred to the front lines.

In 2022–2023, at his own expense, he launched production of micropower plants and video monitoring systems for the needs of Army.

• Honored Economist of Ukraine (22 June 2007) — for significant personal contribution to the development of the constitutional principles of Ukrainian statehood, many years of conscientious work, high professionalism and on the occasion of the Constitution Day of Ukraine;

• Order of Merit, III degree;

• The Order of the Legion of Honor (France) was presented on 9 June 2022 by the Ambassador, Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, of France to Ukraine Etienne de Poncins on behalf of the President of France.

In August 2017 Avakov's wife Inna acquired 40% of Goldberry LLC, the owner of Espreso TV. Espreso TV,
Goldberry LLC,

• Is Lenin with us? / Arsen Avakov – Kharkiv: Folio, 2017.

The article of the Ukrainian politician and well-known public figure Arsen Avakov "Lenin is with us" was published in the electronic media in 2007 and caused a great public outcry and heated discussion on the Internet. Therefore, the 2008 edition of the book "Lenin is with Us" included not only an article, but also a selection of comments and discussions in various electronic media - one might say, "Internet epistolary", a public answer to the question of the relevance and necessity of decommunization and liberation from the myths and idols of Soviet propaganda. Ten years later, the author returns to the topic again, adding a question mark to the title. After Euromaidan, the era of “Leninfall” and The Law on Decommunization the reader gets the opportunity to recall direct quotes from the leader and ideologist of communism in the USSR and, possibly, to re-evaluate his attitude to Lenin - both a reliable historical figure and the myth of Soviet propaganda.

The book includes an interesting documentary part of the chronicle of the people's "Leninfall" and the official statistics of the "Institute of National Remembrance of Ukraine" on the dismantling of monuments to Lenin. The collection concludes with a selection of arguments and responses from well-known Ukrainian politicians, public figures and publicists.

The new, expanded edition of Arsen Avakov's book "Is Lenin with Us?" continues the broad public discussion that is relevant and absolutely necessary for building a mature democracy.

• Green Notebook / Arsen Avakov – Kharkiv: Folio, 2018.

A selection of articles, essays and publications in the press and Fb by Arsen Avakov. The book covers one of the most difficult periods in the modern history of Ukraine: from January 1, 2014 to autumn 2017. Sometimes these are abstract texts, sometimes reflection or emotions in response to the flow of events of that period. Years – from Euromaidan, the victory  of the Revolution of Dignity to the present day - through the despair and impotence of the annexation of Crimea, the capture of part of the Donbas, war, grief and valor... Through the formation of emotions of the next period of the historical struggle for independence, national identity, through the great daily work of launching a global state reform.

Each publication of the collection is preceded by a chronicle of the day when it was published – sometimes it suggests the background of the post, its mood, sometimes not – but it always allows the reader to build his temporary reminiscences to this difficult time.

• 2014. Moments of Kharkiv Spring / Arsen Avakov – Kharkiv: Folio, 2020.

One night of the troubled spring of the hardest 2014, which saved Kharkiv from the tragic fate of Donetsk, Luhansk, many,  many cities and villages of Donbas, which have been ravaged by separatists and Russian mercenaries for the seventh year. The first victory in the dirty undeclared war waged against Ukraine by the criminal Putin’s regime. How did you manage to defend Kharkiv? Why didn't it work out in Donetsk and Lugansk? What turned out to be decisive in the fate of the city and its people? This is what this book is about. It has a lot of direct speech, lively emotions, facts. Arsen Avakov talks about the events of the night of April 7-8, 2014 in Kharkiv as the head of the ATO in the Kharkiv region and the liberation of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration, seized by separatists. Together with him, the co-authors of this book are Kharkiv residents, each of whom tells his personal story of those troubled days. Such polyphony allows the reader to see the events of the troubled spring of 2014 in Kharkiv voluminously, brightly, with genuine emotions. The events in Kharkiv are given in the context of the situation in the country, with direct links to the news feeds of those days and months that give the reader the background of one of the most difficult periods in the history of Ukraine. For the first time, the book also publishes documents obtained by the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the course of operational work on criminal cases against the leaders of the so-called "DPR/LPR", separatist field commanders and the Russian military. The uniqueness of this book is that the reader gets the opportunity to listen to the audio recording of the separatists' conversations using QR codes. Irrefutable and shocking evidence of criminal plans to seize Kharkiv and other major cities, kill people, ruin Ukraine. The author received special permission from the investigation to publish these documents. This book is a living history of events: chronicle, facts, documents, direct speech. And also – analysis and generalization, philosophical reflections of the author about the events in Kharkiv and the country, about the future, about the fate of Ukraine and its people.

• Promissory note circulation: theory and practice / A.  B. Avakov, G. I. Gaevoy, V. A. Beshanov et al. — Kh.: Folio, 2000. — 382 p.;

• Highlights: Collection of articles (April 2005 - October 2006) / Arsen Avakov. — Kharkov, 2006. — 48 p.: ill.;

• Accents: Speeches, articles, speeches, interviews, publications (November 2004  - December 2006): collection of articles / Arsen Avakov. — Kharkov: Golden Pages, 2007. — 464 p.: ill.;

• Lenin with us: Article + Internet epistolary / Arsen Avakov. — Kharkov: Golden Pages, 2008. — 100 p.: ill.;

• Yesterday and Tomorrow/ Arsen Avakov. — Kharkov: Golden Pages, 2008. — 48 p.;

• Strategy of socio-economic development of the Kharkiv region for the period up to 2015: Monograph.- Kh.: Publishing House "INGEK", 2008.- 352 p.;

• Is Lenin with us? / Arsen Avakov – Kharkov: Folio, 2017. – 160 p.;

• Green Notebook / Arsen Avakov – Kharkov: Folio, 2018. – 160 p.;

• 2014. Moments of Kharkov Spring / Arsen Avakov – Kharkov: Folio, 2020. – 288 p.

• Arsen Avakov. Personal site
• “ Glavnoe” (The Main) site
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