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Odessa's governor (the former president of Georgia) accuses Ukraine's interior minister of financing paramilitary groups
Odessa Governor and former Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has accused the head of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry, Arsen Avakov, of controlling and financing “informal paramilitary groups with the proceeds from corruption.” The accusation was made at a briefing after a meeting of the National Reform Council in Kiev.
Earlier on at the council meeting, Saakashvili and Avakov clashed over the privatization of the Odessa Portside Plant, one of the largest chemical plants in Ukraine. During their exchange, Avakov threw water in Saakashvili's face. Both politicians have demanded that the video recording of the council meeting be made public.
Saakashvili also spoke about the involvement of Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk in a series of corruption schemes. The prime minister defended Avakov and implied Saakashvili was merely “here today but gone tomorrow.”
Saakashvili expressed his hope the reforms of the law enforcement agencies, which are being carried out according to the Georgian model, will eventually gain a foothold. “A corrupt official should have nothing to do with [these reforms].”
- On May 30, 2015, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko appointed former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to be governor of the Odessa region. To take the position, Saakashvili received Ukrainian citizenship and, as a result, lost his Georgian citizenship.