Minister Abromavicius: I don’t want to be a screen for corruption

Ukraine’s Economic Development and Trade Minister Aivaras Abromavicius has decided to resign. He announced the decision earlier today at a briefing in Kiev.

“My team and me are ready to resign right now. I am asking the Rada to vote for our resignation as early as tomorrow. The reason is that any significant and system reforms are being blocked in this country,” Abromavicius explained.

“This is not just absence of political will. It is active motions aimed at petrifying our reforming activities: from unexpected dismissal of the minister and his family’s bodyguards to exerting growing pressure in order to impose dubious candidatures upon my team and on top management positions at state enterprises,” he added.

The minister stressed the key reason for his resignation was a conflict with deputy head of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc faction Ihor Kononenko. “My team and me are unwilling to be a screen for straightforward corruption or controllable puppets for those willing to gain control over state finance in an old-government style. I am unwilling to be going to Davos, telling everyone about our successes, while some certain issues will be settled behind our backs in the interests of certain people,” Abromavicius continued.

Earlier, Ihor Kononenko announced the party was planning to submit for discussion resignation of three ministers: Abromavicius, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov and Culture Minister Vyacheslav Kirilenko. Kononenko said the question was first to be discussed by members of committees in charge and then the faction expected to hear the ministers’ reports.

From 2002, Abromavicius, a native of Lithuania, worked at East Capital Fund. Before moving to Ukraine, he had been working in Russia for three years. In December 2014, he was granted Ukrainian citizenship.