KYIV – Fifty-five national deputies on June 5 initiated a move to dismiss the minister of internal affairs, Arsen Avakov. Thirty-six deputies from the Servant of the People faction, 18 from Holos, and one from European Solidarity signed a statement and transmitted it to the Verkhovna Rada’s Secretariat.
To act on the initiative, Parliament needs four times as many votes, so this initiative by 55 national deputies has more of an informational impact. An actual dismissal of the powerful and controversial minister who has served under two presidents is unlikely.
At the same time, Internal Affairs Minister Avakov was summoned to the Verkhovna Rada for a report and a question and answer session with national deputies. The immediate cause was an incident in the town of Kaharlyk, near Kyiv, that happened on May 24. It was but the most recent incident in a chain of events involving police officers that point to the failure of police reform in Ukraine.