Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov has said that he intends to remain in the post he holds, as long as he has incentives for this and he feels the strength to work effectively.
“Someone should be responsible for what is happening. As soon as I find the arguments that I should not be in this position, then, believe me, neither will, nor strength, nor anything else will hold me. If I find arguments and motives to do my work and be effective, I will remain at this place,” Avakov told reporters in Kyiv on Tuesday, Nov. 7, after the presentation of his book entitled “Is Lenin with Us?”
While commenting on the initiative by some MPs to suspend him and Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan from office due to investigations conducted against them or people close to them, Avakov said: “There are people who build theories and houses of cards, and there are people who do their business. Those who do their business cannot engage in a great political polemic. I can also engage in this polemic and I was in opposition, but now I’m in power.”
Speaking about the vote that took place on Nov. 7, during which the Verkhovna Rada did not support his resignation, Avakov said that the parliament’s task is to make serious decisions.
“And I do not know why it should have supported [my resignation],” the minister added.
As reported, on Nov. 7, the Verkhovna Rada failed to support a measure calling for Avakov’s resignation as interior minister. Only 31 parliamentarians voted (with a necessary minimum of 226 votes) for corresponding draft resolution (No. 5041). A total of 102 lawmakers voted against the proposal, and 56 abstained.
In particular, Avakov’s resignation was backed by eight Bloc of Petro Poroshenko faction deputies, including the author of the bill, Serhiy Kaplin.
Some 26 lawmakers voted against it and 38 abstained. Sixty-two out of 81 People’s Front lawmakers voted against the proposal. The interior minister’s resignation was also supported by nine Samopomich deputies (one abstained) and a member of the Batkivschyna faction (three voted against it, and four abstained).
MPs from the Opposition Bloc, Vidrodzhennia and People’s Will mostly did not vote, giving only three votes against Avakov’s resignation. Of the 20 deputies of the Radical Party faction, no one voted to dismiss Avakov, whereas four voted against or abstained from this proposal. Thirteen independent lawmakers voted for the interior minister’s resignation, four voted against it, and six abstained.
