U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary (DAS) of State George Kent and Ukrainian Minister of the Interior Arsen Avakov met in Kyiv on Wednesday to discuss the ministry’s performance during the presidential elections in Ukraine.
“DAS Kent congratulated Interior Minister Arsen Avakov on his team’s work to ensure presidential elections were conducted safely. DAS Kent also called on Ukrainian officials to step up efforts for safeguarding the effectiveness of anti-corruption legal tools and institutions,” the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine said on Twitter.
Avakov in turn assured that law enforcement officers are ready to ensure order during the parliamentary elections this fall, the ministry’s media liaison office said.
“Our units are fully prepared to ensure law and order during the parliamentary elections in the fall,” he said.
The minister also stressed that a fair and transparent election is a matter of national security. “We’ve coped with the task. I have repeatedly said that if society does not accept this philosophy, it is impossible to ensure fair elections using the police’s forces only. We have witnessed a new culture of the electoral process,” he said in his assessment of the presidential election.
“The Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs noted the Ministry of Internal Affairs was non-political during the democratic expression of the Ukrainian people’s will,” the ministry’s media liaison office said.
