From Maidan to Minister. What did Ukrainians remember the unsinkable head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs

Just a few weeks after the publication of this text, Arsen Avakov was appointed head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The ministry at that moment was absolutely disoriented: its leadership, following Yanukovych, fled to Russia, some of the employees in Crimea and Donbass went over to the side of the Russian invaders, fighters from the Berkut special squad were hiding at their acquaintances and in secret apartments, fearing revenge for the executions of protesters on Maidan.

The war broke out in Donbass, provocateurs rocked Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk, Odessa. And Avakov’s demonstrated ability to localize and neutralize hotbeds of tension where the invaders did not reach, helped him build an image of a talented and irreplaceable person.

Avakov remained in office after the change in July 2014 of Acting President Alexander Turchinov by the elected head of state, Petro Poroshenko. And a year later, he zealously set about implementing the reform of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In the course of this reform, the Ukrainian militia turned into a police force. The old, thoroughly corrupt traffic police were replaced by patrolmen dressed in American-style uniforms and driving in cars donated by the Japanese. On this, the reform, by and large, ended.

Khatia Dekanoidze and Eka Zguladze, discharged by Petro Poroshenko from Georgia and pompously presented to the Ukrainians as the driving force behind the reform, soon quietly left the posts in the Ministry of Internal Affairs created especially for them. The re-certification of police officers, declared as cleansing the organs of unreliable and corrupt employees, actually failed – more than 90% of those dismissed through the courts were reinstated in their previous positions. The cops continued to take bribes, torture suspects and fall into scandals involving the murder of innocent people, rape and robbery. The minister himself got stuck in a story with the procurement of backpacks for employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs at significantly inflated prices, sewn at the enterprise of his son.

But none of this could sink Arsen Avakov. Moreover, he turned into an absolutely independent political figure who took part in negotiations with foreign delegations, called for a revision of the Minsk agreements and even went on an official visit to the Vatican.

No one in power wanted to quarrel with the minister who controls the police and the National Guard. Moreover, his sympathizers constantly talked on TV that Avakov’s departure would lead to chaos in the country: they say that only a former Maidan commandant who has become skilled in managing the police can effectively command the security forces in the face of external Russian aggression and internal instability.