Arsen Avakov Breaks Kravchenko's Record. He Has Served Longest as Interior Minister
In the entire history of independent Ukraine.
Arsen Avakov has served as Ukraine's interior minister longer than any of his predecessors in the modern history of independent Ukraine. He has held the post of head of the Interior Ministry for 2,110 days (5 years, 9 months and 11 days). The calculation was made by the TK Media editorial team.
The previous record was held by Yuri Kravchenko, who served in the same post for 2,093 days (5 years, 8 months and 23 days) during Leonid Kuchma's presidency.
Arsen Avakov headed the Interior Ministry under 4 presidents: Yanukovych (1 day formally), acting president Turchynov, Poroshenko and Zelensky. He also served as minister in 4 governments: those of Serhiy Arbuzov (formally), Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Volodymyr Groysman and Oleksiy Honcharuk.
On August 29, the 9th-convocation Verkhovna Rada approved the government of Oleksiy Honcharuk, in which Arsen Avakov retained the post of interior minister. Deputies voted not for each minister separately, but for the proposed package as a whole. Servant of the People leader Davyd Arakhamia clarified that Avakov remains in office as a “transitional minister” under “personal responsibility of the president”.
On October 10, during a press marathon, Zelensky said that Avakov could be dismissed from the new year if he fails the probation period. The president also stressed that he “owes nothing” to Avakov.
In October, Andriy Bohdan, head of the Presidential Office, told the Ukrainska Pravda interview that firing Avakov would be “dishonest”, since he is “a professional who ensured fair elections.” Bohdan also added that the government had given Avakov “carte blanche”, within which “he must win the public's sympathy, or not win it.”
Yuri Kravchenko was Ukraine's interior minister from July 3, 1995 to March 26, 2001. According to the official version, on March 4, 2005, Kravchenko committed suicide by shooting himself in the head twice. According to a court verdict, former Interior Ministry general Pukach was given an oral order by Kravchenko to kill journalist Georgiy Gongadze due to dissatisfaction with his journalistic activity. Kravchenko was one of the main figures on the published “Melnychenko tapes”.
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