Authorities of Internal Affairs of Ukraine

Avakov
Arsen Borisovich

Minister of Interior Affairs of Ukraine

Avakov Arsen Borisovich, born on January 2, 1964.

Mr. Avakov is a citizen of Ukraine.

In 1988 he graduated from the Kharkov Polytechnic Institute with the specialty of systems engineer in the automated control systems. After graduation, he worked as an engineer in the research institute VNIIOV (Kharkov, Ukraine).

In 1990 he founded one of the first joint stock companies in Ukraine - JSC Investor, where he has been President till 2005.

Over the years JSC Investor has become the largest financial and industrial holding company in the Kharkov region. It concentrated its main commercial interests in the following sectors: financial services, gas extraction, heat and power generation, production and processing of agricultural products, food production, distribution, construction, mass media business.

The Basis bank founded in 1992 became the financial core of the holding. The largest enterprises of JSC Investor included the oil extracting company Investor-Neftegaz, the Saltovskiy bakery plant, the Ahmad Tea tea factory, СHPP-3, the supermarket chain Vostorg, the Investor Elit Building company.

In 2002, the representative office of JSC Investor in Italy had been opened, which successfully entered the European market of mozzarella cheese.

The mass media assets of the holding company Investor included the TV channels ATN, 7th Channel, A/TVK; the Investor publishing house, the Simon and Pyatnitsa (Friday) newspapers, the "New Wave" and "L-FM" broadcasting stations.

As of 2004, the assets of JSC "Investor" were estimated by experts, in particular, the Focus magazine, amounting to more than US$ 300 million.

Arsen Avakov is a co-founder of following charitable and not-for-profit organizations:

• Marianna Avakova Foundation;

• The Renaissance Foundation;

• Public organization "Bridge to the Stars";

• Arsen Avakov's producer foundation.

In 2002, Arsen Avakov was elected a member of the executive committee of the Kharkiv City Council.

During the presidential election campaign in Ukraine in 2004, he was deputy head of the Kharkov regional headquarters of presidential candidate V. Yushchenko, first deputy chairman of the Kharkov regional Peoples’ Salvation Committee.

In March 2005 he was elected to the Council of the political party The People's Union ‘Our Ukraine’ and became a member of the party Presidium.

On February 4, 2005, Mr.Avakov resigned from the post of the President of JSC Investor.

On February 4, 2005, by Decree of the President of Ukraine, he was appointed to the position of the Chairman of the Kharkov Regional State Administration.

On February 9, 2010, after the election of Viktor Yanukovych as the President of Ukraine, Mr.Avakov resigned from the position of the Chairman of the Kharkov Regional State Administration under Art. 31, Part 3 of the Law of Ukraine "On Public Service" (Principal disagreement with the decision of a state body or official, as well as ethical obstacles to work in the public service).

On April 21, 2010, he joined the party "Fatherland" and accepted the proposal of Yu. V. Tymoshenko to head the Kharkov regional organization of the political party VO Bat’kivschina (Fatherland) (Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko). He was elected a member of the party Political Council.

In October 2010 he participated in the elections of the mayor of the city of Kharkov. According to the exit polls, he won the majority of votes, however, due to illegal manipulation with the ballots he was not officially recognized as the winner. According to the information of the international human rights organization Freedom House, the result of the election of the mayor of Kharkov was changed in favor of Mr.Gennady Kernes.

Mr. Avakov was the Member of the Kharkov Regional Council of the V and VI callings.

From September 2011 to December 2012 Mr.Avakov was in political emigration in Italy due to the President Yanukovych’ regime criminal prosecution for his opposition activities. The Ukraine's request to extradite Arsen Avakov was rejected by the Rome Court of Appeal on October 18, 2012. The court's decision stated the political nature of the criminal prosecution of Arsen Avakov and recorded the fact of selective justice in Ukraine.

In the parliamentary elections on October 28, 2012, Arsen Avakov was elected People's Deputy of Ukraine of the 7th People’s Rada in a multi-mandate electoral district. In the electoral list of the political party Bat’kivschina (Fatherland), he was in 24th place.

In the Ukrainian Parliament, he held the post of the Chairman of the Subcommittee on the legislation on the status of the people's deputy of Ukraine in the Verkhovna Rada Committee on the rules, the deputy's ethics and support for activities