Fight over the flag between Russian and Ukrainian parliamentarians in Turkey

Russian and Ukrainian MPs quarreled during the session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation held on Thursday in the Turkish city of Ankara. The tension began when Ukrainian delegates unfurled their country’s flags behind Russian Lower House Deputy Speaker Olga Timofeeva during her speech.

The President of the Turkish Parliament, Mustafa Sentop, who presided over the meeting with colleagues from twelve countries, called for order and invited those who want to intervene without having the floor to leave. But the gesture was repeated. Another Ukrainian representative raised the flag of his country again in the hall. Then a Russian parliamentarian intervened and pulled him away, and a fight began..

A tense moment during the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation in Ankara, Turkey, when a Russian representative tried to grab the Ukrainian flag. pic.twitter.com/L50dIj3fmv

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The Organization for Black Sea Economic Cooperation brings together six coastal states and seven other neighboring countries. was founded in Istanbul in 1993 by Türkiye and Russia, so the 30th anniversary was celebrated yesterday and continued today with a special meeting of the presidents of their parliaments, along with the general assembly.