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Ukraine's interior minister may be dismissed

A relevant bill initiated by the Rada committee for prevention of and struggle against corruption has been registered in the national parliament

Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov (right) leaving the parliament building (archive) ITAR-TASS/Maxim Nikitin

Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov (right) leaving the parliament building (archive)

© ITAR-TASS/Maxim Nikitin

KIEV, May 14. /TASS/. A bill on dismissing Arsen Avakov from the post of Ukraine’s Interior Minister was registered on Thursday in the national parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, a report at the official parliamentary website said.

The Rada had not made public the text of the bill by the time of reporting yet.

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The motion was initiated by the Rada committee for prevention of and struggle against corruption, a member of which, Borislav Beryoza said the issue might be considered at Rada’s session on Friday, May 14.

One of the reasons for drafting the bill was Avakov’s refusal to fire the Deputy Minister, Sergey Chebotar, who was involved in a scandal around land plots near the village of Lesniki and in beating up reporters to the Zik television channel.

On Thursday, Chebotar handed in a resignation request.

At the same time, Yegor Sobolev, an MP representing the nationalistic Samopomich (Self-Assistance) Association who chairs the parliamentary anticorruption committee said on his page in Facebooi Avakov had failed to cleanse the Interior Ministry of corrupt elements and ‘police turncoats’.

The Chebotar story became the last drop that overfilled the chalice, Sobolev wrote.

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