Silovik from "Investors"

Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Avakov against the "Right Sector"

Arsen Avakov is one of the most commonly mentioned names in Kyiv. The head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for a reason became a noticeable figure of the new Ukrainian government. Having no experience in the law enforcement system, he managed to declare war on the radical wing of the Maidan and began cleaning in his own ministry, whose employees, according to the department, were involved in the shooting of the demonstrators on February 18. Where did he come from, so brave and decisive with which baggage he came to politics - The New Times sorted out the minister’s personality

Arsen Avakov at the military exercises of the National Guard of Ukraine near the residence of Viktor Yanukovych in Mezhigorye. New Petrovtsy, March 31, 2014

“I'm going to Kyiv. Avakov, arrest me ” - with a mockery said on a video posted on February 28 in YouTube, one of the leaders of the Right Sector Alexander Muzychko (aka Sashko Bily). In another video, with a machine gun at the ready at a meeting of the Rivne Regional Rada, Muzychko promises to "hang Avakov as a dog."

Minister Avakov seriously refers to such attacks: a serious struggle unfolded against the “right -wing sector”. March 24, less than a month after the scandalous video, Muzychko was killed (according to the version of the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs, he himself accidentally released two bullets when handcuffs were put on him during the detention). Upon learning of the death of his ally, the activists of the Right Sector on March 27 made an attempt to storm the Rada with a demand for the resignation of Avakov: the frightened deputies left the building through the underground tunnel. But Minister Avakov was not afraid. On March 31, one of the leaders of the “Right Sector” Andrei Kozyubchik was arrested in Kyiv: he fired on the Maidan, injuring three people. On April 1, fighters of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), together with the police, liberated the Dnipro hotel occupied by the “Right Sector” on March 25, a stone's throw from the Rada and the Cabinet of Ministers. The head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, it seems, decided to fight to the last ... radical.

Great Warrior Arsenik

People who are familiar with Avakov characterize him as a quiet, balanced person who suddenly can suddenly explode and does not control himself. So, on January 9, 2014, on the air of the Ukrainian television channel, TWI Avakov launched a Puepiter in the former deputy of the Rada from the Party of Regions Oleg Kalashnikov, after which he almost beat him.

The sources of The New Times told another story. One of the hobbies of Arsen Avakov is computer games, in the 2000s he was known as a famous participant in the online game “Fight Club”, in which he earned the position of the head of the SaintBrothers clan (“Holy Brothers”) under the nickname Arsenik. In four years, Arsenik spent 18 thousand fights, rising to the title of the great warrior. This, however, hid this from the public - then he was already the governor of the Kharkov region. However, when the local Media Agency "Mediaport" published on its website a note about a certain user Arsenik without links to Avakov, the great warrior tore and metal. Not suspecting that after eight years he will not be subordinate to his subordination.

Arsen Borisovich Avakov, an ethnic Armenian, was born in 1964 in the village. Kirov on the outskirts of Baku in the family of a soldier. Two years later, the family moved to Ukraine. In 1988 he graduated from the Kharkov Polytechnic Institute, worked for two years at the All-Union Research Institute for Water Protection (VNIVOO). However, a scientific career promised little, so already in 1990, Avakov, together with partners, Gennady Gayev and Alexander Konovalov organized one of the first joint-stock companies in Ukraine-“investor”.

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For four years, Arsenik spent 18 thousand fights, rising to the title of the Great Warrior

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What the “investor” did at the dawn of his activity was difficult to say. Evil languages ​​say that “investors” exported non -ferrous metals from the country. Many Kharkov states were built on this: “They agreed with the directors of factories, stole metal, divided profit,” a source in Kharkov business circles told The New Times. In 1992, Alexander Konovalov was shot dead, the case never reached the trial. In an interview, Avakov said that Konovalova, they say, killed his own guard to rob. But this is not possible to check this: the guard himself was found dead in Donetsk a few months later. As Gennady Kernes explained to the magazine, the mayor of Kharkov with the reputation of the “worst enemy of Avakov”, control over the “investor” after the death of Konovalov completely passed into the hands of the future minister.

In 1992, Avakov expands the business, establishing in Kharkov the Basis Bank. In 1993, voucher privatization began in Ukraine, in which the Basis takes an active part, buying vouchers among the population. In 1994, the Investor begins the supply of Akhmad tea to Ukraine, supermarkets, department stores, bakery, agro-industrial complex are transferred under the control of the group. However, the “investor” managed to truly turn around only in the early 2000s, when Avakov was elected a member of the executive committee of the Kharkov City Council-this allowed the businessman to take part in the test schemes for the buying out debts of state-owned enterprises-“Oblenergo”, “Teploenergo”, “Vodokanala”.

“Avakov got into the City Council because he was friendly with Peter, the brother of Viktor Yushchenko (President of Ukraine in 2005-2010 - The New Times),” explains the source of the magazine in Kharkov. However, according to other sources, this friendship was quite consistent with the political beliefs of Avakov, who became one of the activists of the “Orange Revolution” in Kharkov and one of the deputies of the head of the Kharkov election headquarters Viktor Yushchenko.

A passionate fan of science fiction, Arsen Avakov is the organizer of the Fantasy Fantasy Festival “Star Bridge”, as well as the sponsor of the Ethnic Festival “The Pechenezh Field” (in the photo). Kharkov region, 2007

Governor on the forum

“Avakov never stops at the achieved, but does not rush into battle,” one of the former subordinates of Avakov in the “investor” told the magazine. “He will hide, like Murena on a hunt, and waits for a place to take a place nearby to take him right there.” “A nimble guy, a shallow, will not miss his own,” Kernes confirms.

In 2005, the governor of the Kharkiv region was released, which Avakov, in his own words, took “accidentally”. However, as Gennady Kernes explained, Avakov helped Avakova with the same friendship with Peter Yushchenko, who advanced Avakov to take his son Yaroslav to his deputies. “Avakov never had charisma in order to achieve something in politics himself,” says Kernes. - He took part in elections in the majority system several times, but never won. But he always knew how to leak on party lists. ”

Residents of the Kharkov region, with whom the New Times managed to talk, could not say much about five years of governorship of Arsen Avakov: with him, they say, as always. “He did not distinguish anything like that,” said Alla Aleksandrovskaya, the leader of the Kharkov regional committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, the leader of the Kharkov regional committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine. “He was an ardent anti -Soviet, openly advocated the demolition of the monument to Lenin.” “These were the best years in the region - the issues were resolved, everything worked,” does not agree with the Alexander businessman and politician Alexander Kirsch, ally Avakov.

“Avakov will hide like Murena on a hunt, and waits for a place to take a place nearby to take him right there.”

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According to the ex-gear director of the Kharkov regional state television and radio company, now the general director of the National Radio Committee of Ukraine Zurab Alasania, Avakov was interested in the fact that he tried to communicate with the population to the maximum: he was the first Ukrainian politician who began to comment on the forums on the Internet when there was no Facebook. And in 2006, with his money, he equipped the studio on Kharkov TV and once a week called his officials on the air for them to report on work. “He generally invested a lot of his money,” recalls Zurab Alasania. -printed some brochures with the results of the administration; If the budget did not have enough money to draw gas to some remote village, he could finance this from his own funds. ”

The funds, however, allowed: in 2007, Avakov’s condition was estimated at $ 300 million, in 2008-already at $ 385 million. At the same time, Avakov took off the powers of the President of the “investor”, and also left the shareholders of the Basis Bank, selling his 24 percent share of the wife of Inna Avakova.

Did you fail?

According to Alexander Kirsch, despite the merits of Avakov-Governor, the rapid growth of entrepreneurship in the Kharkov region did not happen to him. However, Avakov successfully struggled with corruption, under him there were no requisitions that Ukraine was used to: “So, for example, I received the title of Honored Economist in 2006 completely free,” says Alexander Kirsch, who at that time worked as an economic adviser to the governor. “And today these titles are bought.”

At the same time, the ex-governor himself stretches a whole train of corruption stories, none of them, however, was already proved in court. In the region, scandals about the illegal alienation of pioneering, thermal power plants, the Kharkov VDNH flashed every now and then - all these objects, according to the mayor of Kernes, went to structures affiliated with Avakov. For many of them, the courts made decisions on return to state property. “Objects were used for other purposes,” the employee of the Kharkov administration complained The New Times. “For example, at the TPP-3, Avakov kept the boats, arranged a sausage workshop there, as a result he brought the thermal power station to devastation.”

The growth of the Governor’s post is also associated with the growth of the Investor-Neftegaz company, which was developing gas fields in the Kharkiv region-allegedly part of the deposits, the company got a violation of the law. “He is very greedy, the main thing for him is the main thing,” says the mayor of Kernes, “this has failed him.” The endless scandals around the name Avakov, the unwillingness to negotiate with local political and business elites led to the fact that the Kharkov regional council twice expressed him distrust. After that, on February 9, 2010, the governor wrote a letter of resignation.

According to Avakov himself, he was forced to resign with the policy of Yushchenko, who supported Viktor Yanukovych in the second round of the 2010 presidential elections. But according to Kyiv, a statement of resignation by the governor was written at the request of Yushchenko. Moreover, on the website of the President of Ukraine in the decree on the dismissal of Avakov, the wording of “accept the resignation” was replaced by “dismiss”.

In the life of Arsenika, a difficult period began.

The law enforcement forces managed to force the activists of the Right Sector to release the Dnepr Hotel without a single shot. Kyiv, April 1, 2014

To lie to the bottom in Rome

In April 2010, Avakov headed the Kharkov Regional Organization of the Fatherland Party Yulia Tymoshenko. However, after the arrest of Tymoshenko, in August 2011, he began to actively sell his Kharkov assets: he parted with the Saltovskiy Bakery Network. Prior to this, back in July, he sold his share of Kharkov's “7th TV channel”. According to the sources of the magazine in the city, the money for sold enterprises was withdrawn abroad through the same Bazis bank (today Avakov’s condition is estimated at only $ 98.9 million, but Gennady Kernes is sure that everything else is hidden abroad).

In September 2011, Avakov unexpectedly disappears from Kharkov, in January 2012 the prosecutor's office of the Kharkiv region was opening a criminal case on the fact of excess of the authorities: Avakov’s illegal alienation of 55 hectares of land in favor of a certain commercial structure is charged. The investigation makes a decision to detain the heads of Investor JSC, including Avakov’s long -time partner Gennady Gavoy, who, however, is also allowed to run. Both businessmen are put on an international wanted list, after which they are detained in the Italian city of Frosinon, 120 km from Rome: Avakova in March 2012, Gavoy-in November of the same year. But, having received documents from Ukraine on their cases, the Italian courts decide in extradition to refuse.

“From the very beginning, the political background of the case was clear,” Yuri Vishnevsky, lawyer Avakov, explained The New Times. - On the main document of the charges there is a fake signature of Avakov, this was concluded by our Kharkov experts. But the investigation caused experts from Donetsk, who recognized the signature of the genuine. " “All this was organized by Kernes, whom many consider to be a embezzle and a bribe taker,” says Alexander Kirsch. - He was never shy in ways ”(against Kernes himself, as well as against the current governor of the Kharkov region Mikhail Dobkin, after the appointment of Avakov, the Minister of the Interior also instituted criminal cases, which both accused call“ politically motivated ”).

“Avakov copes with his duties perfectly. And to glorify with the fighters of Alpha or Falcon - this is not the "Right Sector" to you

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It was not possible to find reports that the case against the Minister Avakov was closed, the prosecutor's office of the Kharkov region did not answer the request of The New Times, but, according to Yuri Vishnevetsky, no investigative actions were carried out recently.

But then, in 2012, things poured on Avakov’s head one after another. In April, the external department at the Basis bank was introduced, and in August a criminal case was instituted against the management of the bank. The bank itself was accused of illegally withdrawing funds, including abroad, during 2008-2012. One of the possible defendants in the investigation, the chairman of the board of JSC Investor Alexander Motylevsky, on October 31, 2012 jumped out of the 9th floor. In a suicide note, the deceased accused Arsen Avakov and his colleagues: they, they say, substituted both Motylevsky himself and other employees.

In Italy, where, according to rumors, Avakov brought out most of his condition, he was engaged in the production of cheese, pasta, real estate investments and ... politics. Despite the affairs opened against him, Avakov took part in the 2012 parliamentary elections, went to the Rada on the lists of the "Fatherland" and in December of that year returned to Kyiv under the protection of the deputy crust.

In January 2013, Avakova was waiting for a new case: they and Alexander Kirsch were accused of molesting a minor. A young Kharkov citizen named Maxim gave an interview to the site “Kyiv Media”, in which he said that for two years he provided for Avakov “homosexual services”, and when the ex-governor left for Italy, he left Maxim “inherited” to his friend Kirsha. Avakov himself, who has a wife and 25-year-old son, Alexander, denies acquaintance with Maxim.

A policeman without shoulder straps

According to the interlocutors of the magazine in Kyiv, the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Avakov became quite by chance. An ordinary people's deposition from the opposition, he spun on the barricades, replaced the sick Andrei Parubiy for several days as the commandant of the Maidan, and when, after Yanukovych’s flight, it was urgent to solve the issue of the new government, he turned up by Arsenia Yatsenyuk (Parubiy received the post of secretary of the National Security Council of Ukraine (SNBU). Initially, there were doubts in the society: would there The composition, because Avakov did not even serve in the army.

“Avakov copes with his duties perfectly,” says Zurab Alasania. - Ukraine was generally without police for a couple of weeks. And then the authorities gradually began to line up. And to glorify with the fighters of Alpha or Falcon (special forces of the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs. - The New Times) is not the “right sector” to you.

However, according to rumors, in the Ministry of Internal Affairs Avakov affirms his authority not only due to personal qualities. As one of the sources of the magazine in Kyiv told the magazine, when the entire leadership of the law enforcement agencies left the country, and the state was disorganized, the new ministers turned to the Americans for help. Result: in Ukraine, including the Ministry of Internal Affairs, several groups of consultants from the FBI and the CIA are now working, with the help of which Ukrainian security forces are engaged in methodological purge of state bodies from agents of Russian special services.

The fight against internal opponents did not save Avakov from Criticism from outside: in March, the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs had to listen to accusations of an ill -conceived personnel policy in the field several times, Prime Minister Yatsenyuk pretended him to travel to the fortege in an exceeding speed. Avakov and reproaches in inaction were heard: they say, the Ministry of Internal Affairs needs reform, and the leader does nothing.

“It’s just that our people want everything at once, but it doesn’t happen,” Zurab Alasania explains for the minister. “But I'm sure: Avakov will go far.”

Photo: Michal Burzal/Zuma Press/ITAR-TASS, Konstantin Ivanov/EPA/ITAR-TASS, provided by Renaissance charity foundation,