You're reading: Avakov tosses water in Saakashvili’s face

A session of the National Reforms Council ended with Odesa Oblast governor and ex-Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili getting a glass of water thrown in his face by Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov on Dec. 14.

Meanwhile, President Petro Poroshenko’s office
has refused to publish a video recording of the incident public despite calls from
both parties to do so.

The water tussle erupted during a discussion
of the Odesa Portside Plant, a major state-owned chemical producer whose sale
the government has postponed numerous times. It recently has been at the center
of numerous corruption allegations.

After Avakov asked Saakashvili about whether
he had any links to Russian businessman Dmitri Mazepin, who owns the Uralchem
fertilizer company, the pair engaged in a heated exchange of insults and curse
words. Avakov’s comment was apparently a veiled accusation of corruption
against Saakashvili, who has repeatedly accused both Avakov and Prime Minister
Arseniy Yatsenyuk of profiting from graft schemes.

Both – Avakov and Saakashvili – later called
on the presidential administration to publish the video footage of the National
Reforms Council’s meeting.

However, Dmytro Shymkiv who is the deputy head
of the presidential office, said in a TV interview that the video won’t be
publicly released, because “it’s a personal matter of these two politicians.”

Shymkiv, who previously headed Microsoft in
Ukraine, also said it’s up to the president to decide on whether to suspend
Avakov, Saakashvili and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk from the National
Reforms Council.

The incident provided a dramatic display not
only of lingering suspicions of corruption at the highest levels, but also a
deepening rift between Saakashvili on the one hand and Avakov and Yatsenyuk on
the other.

While Saakashvili denied Avakov’s allegations
after the spat on Dec. 14, Interior Ministry spokesman Artem Shevchenko on Dec.
15 posted video footage purporting to show Saakashvili and Mazepin meeting in
Odesa.

The footage, originally uploaded on Dec. 7,
prompted a statement from Uralchem on Dec. 9 in which the company denied that
such a meeting took place and called it an “orchestrated provocation.”

“Dmitri Mazepin doesn’t know Mikheil Saakashvili and the Uralchem company has no interest in buying any assets in Ukraine,” read a statement published by the Lenta.Ru news agency.

Shevchenko said that Avakov wouldn’t resign
after the incident.

Avakov’s accusation against Saakashvili caused
him to “break into hysterics,” the interior minister wrote on his Facebook page
following the row.

He implied that Saakashvili’s statements
against corruption were little more than a show.

“You need to put corrupt people in jail, not
just talk about them. You need to work, not talk!” Avakov wrote.

Meanwhile, Saakashvili said during a briefing after
the meeting that Avakov had claimed he was corrupt and abusing power.

“(Avakov) started telling me about (some)
stolen billions – which is a favorite phrasing of Russian propagandists – and
told me to ‘leave the country,’” Saakashvili was quoted as saying.

Poroshenko appointed Saakashvili to run Odessa
in May. He was seen by many experts as a figure who might have success at
rooting out corruption in the region. Saakashvili has been involved in an
ongoing public spat with Yatsenyuk for the last several months, publicly
accusing the prime minister and his associates of corruption.

At the meeting on
Dec. 15, he also mentioned alleged links among Prime Minister Yatsenyuk, Mykola
Martynenko, a lawmaker from the prime minister’s People’s Front party, and the
Odesa Portside Plant.

Other accusations Saakashvili made during the
meeting included Avakov’s alleged financing of volunteer armed groups.

The Interior Ministry denied on Dec. 15 that
Avavov runs or finances private paramilitary groups.

“He (Avakov) dared to make absolutely direct
threats against me. This is a man who exercises practical control over
paramilitary units,” Saakashvili was quoted as saying.

“Then Yatsenyuk called me a visiting
performer,” Saakashvili said, adding that he has no plans to leave Ukraine and
“won’t give them a chance to keep robbing the country.”

Poroshenko, who was present at the meeting,
hasn’t commented on the situation so far.

However, his spokesman Svyatoslav Tseholko has
scolded Avakov and Saakashvili for the water-throwing and arguing. “Such
street-style clashes shame the country,” Tseholko said in a Facebook post.

Tseholko was not available for further
comment.

Political analyst Vitaly Bala of the
Situations Modeling Agency believes it would be good for Poroshenko to suspend
both Avakov and Saakashvili pending an investigation into the matter.

He also said the accusations made by
Saakashvili should be considered by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office.

“It could be a good test for them – whether
they manage to find out the truth or not,” Bala told the Kyiv Post. “Even
though the situation is a shame and doesn’t do any good for the country’s
image, it’s a good thing, because it shows that a clean-up in the highest
(political) echelons can start.”

Taras Berezovets, head of the Berta
Communications consulting company, was less forgiving, however. According to
him, no one – not even a political figure like Saakashvili – should directly
accuse a prime minister without concrete facts.

“It’s time either to show documents or
resign,” Berezovets said.

Kyiv Post staff writer Olena Goncharova can be reached at [email protected].