Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov has said he will not apologize to the head of the Odesa regional state administration, Mikheil Saakashvili, for the scandal that took place at a meeting of the National Reform Council on Dec. 14, but suggested that the parties "parenthesize" the incident and search for compromise.
“I went berserk because I was shocked by Saakashvili’s rudeness. I am not apologizing to him, but I do ask people to forgive me for my being emotional. I should have restrained myself,” Avakov said in an interview with the Mirror Weekly newspaper.
Saakashvili’s only achievement as head of the Odesa state administration was the removal of three beach fences, he said.
“Saakashvili positions himself as an outstanding anti-corruption campaigner, but I don’t see any cemeteries with buried corrupt officials in Odesa, I don’t see any prisons packed full of them,” the minister said.
To settle the situation, Avakov suggested “parenthesizing” Saakashvili: “The following is an option: having clenched our teeth, we sit down and look for a compromise, putting aside our ambitions and our dislike for one another. We approve the tax code, the budget, other key bills, get another tranche from the IMF, the situation gradually stabilizes,” he said.
It was reported that at the Dec. 14 meeting of the National Council for Reform, which was chaired by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Saakashvili and Avakov had an argument during which the latter threw a glass of water at the head of Odesa state administration.
