During a meeting of Black Sea nations in the Turkish capital on Thursday, a Ukrainian delegate struck a Russian delegate in the face after his Ukrainian flag was taken away to prevent him from photobombing a video interview with Russia’s senior envoy.
On his Facebook page, Olesandr Marikovski, the Ukrainian MP, shared a video of himself beating the Russian and reclaiming the blue and yellow flag. The 61st General Assembly of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC) was convened when the incident occurred.
Several nations from the Black Sea region met to talk about ways to advance multilateral and bilateral ties on the economic, technological, and social fronts, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency in Turkey.
🥊 In Ankara 🇹🇷, during the events of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Community, the representative of Russia 🇷🇺 tore the flag of Ukraine 🇺🇦 from the hands of a 🇺🇦 Member of Parliament.
The 🇺🇦 MP then punched the Russian in the face. pic.twitter.com/zUM8oK4IyN
— Jason Jay Smart (@officejjsmart) May 4, 2023
The video shows the Russian envoy approaching Marikovskyi, who was holding his nation’s flag during the talks. The Russian delegate took the flag out of Marikovskyi’s hands, but the Ukrainian replied by pushing and striking the official in the face to get the flag back.
Some Ukrainian delegates staged a protest earlier in the day, shouting and holding their flags next to Russia’s main delegate as she attempted to speak in the assembly, and they got into a fight with security personnel who tried to take them away.
The Turkish parliament published images of the commotion on its website, and Mustafa Sentop, the speaker, harshly criticised the incident.
He declared, “I condemn this behaviour that disrupts the peaceful environment that Turkey is trying to establish.”
The incident serves as a reminder of the heightened tensions between Russia and Ukraine, which have been made worse by the ongoing conflict in Eastern Ukraine being led by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Since it started in February of last year, the war has now reached important cities including Kyiv, Kherson, Odesa, and Bakhmut.
Russian drone attacks on Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, continued on Thursday while representatives from the 13 BSEC nations convened. There are no ongoing peace negotiations to put an end to the conflict, which has destroyed Ukrainian cities and towns, claimed thousands of lives, and displaced millions of people.
