KIEV, December 24. /TASS/. The current level of corruption and the overall status of the economy is the worst Ukraine has ever seen, Odessa region governor and Georgia's former President, Mikhail Saakashvili said on Wednesday as he took the floor at anti-corruption forum in Kiev. "During all the time I'm here, I haven't met a single person who would say corruption had waned since the times of (President Viktor) Yanukovich," Saakashvili said. "What's more, I'm hearing now and then the fees today are much higher. I haven't spoken a single small or medium-sized business owner who wouldn't tell me the situation at present is as bad as it never was under (President) Kuchma or the 'orange' government or Yanukovich.

On Wednesday, Saakashvili declared formation of a broad non-partisan anticorruption movement in Ukraine. "We’re launching Ukraine’s refurbishment," he told reporters on the sidelines of the Anticorruption Forum underway in Kiev. He said the new movement was not built to assist the interests "of a concrete politician and a concrete political party." More than 6,000 delegates registered at the forum, the convocation of which was steered by Saakashvili’s team. As a TASS reporter said in an eyewitness report from the event, the volunteers distributed the badges reading "Movement for Ukraine’s Cleansing." In most probability, this motto will become the official name of the movement. Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov has accused the former Georgian President turned Odessa region governor, Mikhail Saakashvili, of populism and absence of practical achievements. He made his accusations public in an interview published on Wednesday by the Ukrainskaya Pravda news portal. Avakov believes that Saakashvili engages in self-promotion instead of engaging in reforms. "One cannot parasitize endlessly on society’s intents," he said. "People are overstrained; the economy is in a poor condition and war is going on. Why? Corruption. This explanation naturally finds a response in any heart and that’s why crafty politicians try to make a ploy of it."