Ukraine delegate punches Russian representative at Black Sea nations assembly in Turkey | Watch
1 min read 05 May 2023, 02:39 PM ISTThe incident took place during the 61st Parliamentary Assembly of the Organisation of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC).
PremiumA Ukraine and Russian delegate engaged in scuffle at an international conference. The Ukrainian delegate on Thursday punched a Russian in his face after he snatched away Ukraine flag from his during a conference in Turkey’s capital.
The incident took place during the 61st Parliamentary Assembly of the Organisation of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC). A video on this have been surfacing online on social media. Ukrainian Oleksandr Marikovskyi too had posted this video on his Facebook account. The video was also shared by a Kyiv Post Special Correspondent Jason Jay Smart.
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In the video, which took place in a hallway of the parliament building showed how Oleksandr Marikovskyi was seen holding his country's flag when an unidentified Russian representative approached him and snatched the flag and started walking away.
Earlier, some Ukrainian delegates also scuffled with security officers who had tried to pull them away as they staged a protest, shouting and holding their flags next to Russia's lead delegate as she tried to address the assembly.
Pictures of the disturbance were posted by the Turkish parliament on its website, and Mustafa Sentop, the parliament's head, issued a stiff rebuke. In a tweet, he wrote, “I would like to express that at the PABSEC Presidents' Summit hosted by the GNAT, the provocative and physically offensive actions of some members of the Ukrainian parliamentary delegation can never be accepted. I am also sorry to have experienced such an unfortunate and unacceptable event at the PABSEC, which brought us together at a table with the aim of solving the problems in our region on the basis of dialogue. I condemn this behavior that disrupts the peace environment Turkey is trying to achieve."
While representatives from the 13 countries in the BSEC met on Thursday, Russian drones continued to attack the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. There are currently no peace talks to end the war, which has devastated Ukrainian towns and cities, killed thousands of people and driven millions from their homes.
