Arsen Avakov

1964 – born on 2 January in Baku.
1966 – his family moved to Kharkiv.
1988 – graduated from the Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute.
1990 – founded Investor JSC.
2005–2010 – headed the Kharkiv Regional State Administration.
2012 – elected as a Member of the Ukrainian Parliament.
2014–2021 – served as Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.
2021 – resigned from the post of Minister of Internal Affairs.
Since 2021 – has been engaged in civic, expert and public activities.

Arsen Avakov was born into a military family in Baku. His family moved to Kharkiv when he was two years old. It is with Kharkiv that his education, business and political careers are linked.

In 1988, he graduated from the Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute. Before embarking on his entrepreneurial career, he worked as an engineer at a research institute specialising in water protection.

Business

In 1990, he founded JSC ‘Investor’. Over the years, the holding company’s structure included enterprises in the banking, energy, construction, agribusiness and media sectors. The group’s best-known asset was Basis Bank.

After moving into public service, Avakov announced that he was stepping down from the day-to-day management of the business.

Political career

In 2002, he became a member of the executive committee of the Kharkiv City Council. During the 2004 presidential campaign, he worked at Viktor Yushchenko’s campaign headquarters.

In February 2005, he was appointed head of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration. He held this post until 2010.

In 2012, he was elected a Member of the Ukrainian Parliament for the ‘Batkivshchyna’ party.

On 27 February 2014, he became Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. He retained his post following the change of government in 2019 and remained in office until July 2021.

Activities as Minister of Internal Affairs

During his tenure, he oversaw the reform of the internal affairs system, the launch of the patrol police, the reorganisation of the militia into the National Police, and the development of the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ structures.

His work was met with both support and criticism from the public and political opponents. Among the high-profile issues were the reform of law enforcement agencies, personnel policy and a number of high-profile criminal cases.

He is married. His wife is Inna Avakov. His son is Oleksandr Avakov, an entrepreneur and a participant in the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO).

In July 2021, the Verkhovna Rada approved Arsen Avakov’s resignation from the post of Minister of Internal Affairs. Since leaving office, he has not held any public office and is engaged in civic, expert and journalistic activities.