Suspended Ukraine official files complaint against Saakashvili

Denys Antoniuk, the head of the State Aviation Service, submitted a complaint on July 7 to the Prosecutor General of Ukraine alleging he was illegally suspended from his position as result of illegal actions taken by Mikheil Saakashvili, the head of the Odesa regional administration.

Saakashvili violated government rules when he attended the service’s June 26 meeting, at which he launched into a tirade against Antoniuk that went viral on the web, the complaint alleges. Antoniuk also alleged he was targeted by Saakashvili in order to lobby the interests of Turkish-owned airline Atlas Jet Ukraine. Therefore, he should be charged with abuse of authority with an aim of illegal gains, the complaint said. Antoniuk is also seeking compensatory damages of UAH one million for suffering and loss of reputation from comments made by Saakashvili made that day.

Saakashvili criticized Antoniuk at the June 26 meeting for allegedly restricting airlines from providing flights to Odesa to benefit the dominating carrier, International Airlines of Ukraine, which is controlled by oligarch Igor Kolomoisky. The Cabinet of Ministers suspended Antoniuk from his post on July 1.

Zenon Zawada: As was widely expected, Saakashvili has begun to step on some toes and wasted no time in doing it. The key to Saakashvili’s success as the leader of the Odesa region is to choose his enemies carefully, and not acquiring too many at once. In the landscape of Ukrainian politics, Antoniuk is a relatively small figure, regardless of his apparent backing by the officials at Ukraine’s biggest airline. And Saakashvili can afford to make him an enemy for a broadcasted anti-corruption campaign that he has launched.

In the big picture, the “Georgian reformers” (led by Saakashvili) are in Ukraine to compensate for their mistakes in their native land, where they pursued reforms rather aggressively, sometimes violating the law. They want to renew trust among Western officials that they are reliable partners, particularly in conducting reforms in accordance to rule of law. With the Antoniuk incident, Saakashvili is already revealing his penchant for his old “enthusiastic” ways and testing the bounds of his authority. He stands to run into serious opposition to his reform campaign if he continues at this pace. We think someone is already advising him to take it more slowly. On the other hand, he’s become among Ukraine’s most popular politicians within a matter of weeks.