European Forum

Egg fight in Ukrainian parliament over Russian Black Sea deal

Yesterday (27 April) Ukraine's parliament erupted in chaos as lawmakers approved a bitterly controversial deal allowing the Russian Navy to extend its stay in Ukraine until 2042.

In the parliament in Kyiv, scuffles broke out and opposition deputies hurled eggs at parliament speaker Volodymr Lytvyn, who took shelter under umbrellas. Smoke bombs filled the chamber with a thick white fog, setting off alarms and forcing deputies to cover their faces. Then the lawmakers attacked each other, punching and brawling in the aisles.

On the strength of votes from President Viktor Yanukovych's coalition, 236 Ukrainian lawmakers voted to ratify the agreement – 10 more than the required minimum of 226 votes for the deal to pass. Lytvyn announced the ratification amid whistling and applause. Opposition lawmakers draped a huge Ukrainian flag over their seats, a signal they would abstain from voting.

Critics, led by Yanukovych's Western-leaning predecessor, Viktor Yushchenko, and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, regard the Russian base as a hostile presence on Ukrainian soil and had pushed for its removal when the existing lease runs out in 2017. They also argued that the extension goes against Ukraine’s Constitution, and therefore president Yanukovych – who initiated the agreement in the first place – should be impeached, as was said by Yushchenko’s Our Ukraine Party.

Ukrainian politics are controversial, and the Parliament is often disorderly. Even so, yesterday’s session was exceptional, offering a glimpse of the raw emotions surrounding the country’s divisive relations with Russia.

Tymoshenko calls on anti-government rallies
Thousands of opposition protesters also rallied outside the parliament building yesterday to denounce the deal, signed by Yanukovych and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev on 21 April. In return for the extension, Moscow pledged to cut by 30 per cent the price cash-strapped Ukraine pays for Russian natural gas. Yanukovych said the reduction in gas prices would bolster Ukraine’s sagging economy and help it meet its obligations to the IMF.

Speaking at the rally, Tymoshenko said 27 April would "go down as a black page" in Ukraine's history. She called for a mass opposition protest outside parliament on 11 May to force early elections and oust Yanukovych. "Our unification can bring about a new majority in parliament and a new president in Ukraine -- not in five years, not in three, not even in two, but relatively quickly," she said. She also called for the creation of a special "committee to save Ukraine" in parliament, universities, and workplaces across the country. "The committee to save Ukraine can have only one slogan: There is no price on Crimean land," she said. "Ukraine is not for sale. There is no price on our strategic areas of development."

Moscow happy with ‘strategic’ agreement
In Moscow, Russia's Duma ratified the 25-year extension to the Russian Black Sea Fleet's base in Crimea in a parallel session less than an hour later. Speaking on a visit to Norway yesterday, Medvedev hailed the Ukrainian vote as a victory for common sense. "I am very happy about it," he said. "It shows that common sense has prevailed and Ukraine's strategic interests have also prevailed over emotions of the moment, which were manifested in the form of various noisy effects and other ways of demonstrating one's convictions." Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, speaking after arriving overnight in Kyiv, said he was "surprised" by the extent of the opposition to the deal, saying the former government had not objected to extending the lease.

Russia's Black Sea Fleet has been based in Crimea since the reign of Catherine the Great in the 18th century. But when Ukraine gained independence following the breakup of the Soviet Union, Moscow agreed to withdraw the fleet in 2017.

Sources: Kyiv Post; RFE/RL; Volkskrant (Dutch); Google images (image)


Watch the video to see how Ukrainian opposition lawmakers throw eggs and smoke bombs inside the parliament.