On Tuesday, July 13, Interior Minister of Ukraine Arsen Avakov filed a letter of resignation. Now it has to be approved by the parliament. The corresponding document is published on the website of the agency.
Avakov’s letter doesn’t provide a reason for resigning:
“To the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. In accordance with Article 18, Part 1 of the Law ‘On the Cabinet of Ministers’, I ask that you accept my resignation as Interior Minister of Ukraine.”
Avakov refers to the law that allows a member of the Cabinet of Ministers to resign voluntarily, as opposed to being fired by the prime minister.
On his printed resignation letter, Avakov added in handwriting, “Honored to have served!” He also posted a smiling selfie on Facebook, thanking his team and “every officer and official” for their work.
TV channel "Dom" was the first one to announce Avakov's resignation. It was also reported that Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, and Oleksandr Efimenko, Director of the Center for Infrastructure and Technology of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, are allegedly being considered for Avakov’s position.
At the same time, as Kyiv Post reported, Zelensky met with the lawmakers representing his party, Servant of the People (244 seats), on the evening of July 13, hours after Avakov announced his resignation.
At the meeting, Zelensky proposed the candidacy of Denys Monastyrsky as a replacement for Avakov.
Monastyrsky, 40, is a lawyer and a lawmaker with the Servant of the People. He is the head of the Parliament’s Law Enforcement Committee.
“I decided to take this step, the hardest one in my life, and seek the post of the interior minister,” Monastyrsky told journalists at a briefing after the lawmakers’ meeting with Zelensky.
According to Monastyrsky, the relevant committee of the parliament will approve Avakov’s resignation letter on July 14, and the parliament will vote for it on July 15. Then, on July 16, the parliament will vote on his candidacy.
Now 226 lawmakers have to support Avakov’s resignation. The Verkhovna Rada has meetings scheduled on July 14-16.