At a conference in Ankara, fisticuffs broke out between the Ukrainian and Russian delegations. The dispute ignited over a flag.
A scuffle broke out between a Ukrainian and a Russian delegate at a conference in Ankara on Thursday. At the meeting of MPs for the PABSEC summit, an incident occurred during the speech of the Russian representative in the event hall. Then it got even hotter in the foyer.
The meeting was supposed to be about economic cooperation between the countries bordering the Black Sea. Members of the parliaments of the PABSEC countries are invited. When Olga Timofeeva, a member of the Russian Duma, began to speak, Ukrainian delegates rose from their seats.
Shortly thereafter, according to the Turkish news agency Anadolu, members of the Ukrainian delegation lined up with two flags behind her – one of them the Ukrainian flag. In one photo, a visibly agitated representative of Ukraine can be seen being pushed back. This initially prompted the speaker of the Turkish parliament, as the host, to ask for silence. Mustafa Shentop interrupted the meeting and, according to a report by the Ukrainian news website Esprese.tv, sent the delegation out of the room.
Apparently, a serious argument broke out in the foyer. When Olga Timofeeva made a statement there, the Ukrainian flag was again raised behind her. Videos show a man grabbing it and walking away. The Ukrainian delegate Oleksandr Marikovski is said to have tried to take it away from him – and a scuffle ensued. Marikovski was then able to get his hands on the flag, bystanders and security forces tried to defuse the situation.
The Russian news agency Tass reported that the person attacked was the secretary of the Russian delegation, Valery Stavitsky. After the incident, he was taken to a hospital to be examined. Irina Kasimova, spokeswoman for the Russian Embassy in Ankara, told TASS: “We express our hope that the perpetrators will be punished.”
Marikovski later shared a video of the incident on Facebook and captioned it: “paws off our flag, paws off Ukraine, Russian bastard!”
