FIGHT IN UKRAINE PARLIMENT OVER LANGUAGE BILL
KIEV, Ukraine - A violent scuffle erupted in Ukraine's parliament over a bill that would allow the use of the Russian language in courts, hospitals and other institutions in the Russian-speaking regions of the country.The fight broke out Thursday evening between members of the pro-Western opposition who want to take Ukraine out of Russia's shadow and lawmakers from President Viktor Yanukovych's party, which bases its support in Ukraine's Russian-speaking east.
At least one legislator, opposition lawmaker Mykola Petruk, suffered an apparent blow to the head and was taken to the hospital with blood streaming down his face. The opposition demanded an investigation. - Ukraine is deeply divided into the Russian-speaking east and south, which favors close ties with Moscow, and the Ukrainian-speaking west, which wants Ukraine to join the Western club.
BRAWL, EGGS, SMOKE BOMB HIT UKRAINE PARLIMENT
KIEV, Ukraine – Lawmakers brawled, threw eggs at each other and set off smoke bombs in Ukraine's parliament Tuesday as the legislature erupted into chaos over a vote allowing the Russian navy to keep using a port on the Black Sea.
Ukrainian nationalists who resented Moscow's long dominance of their land regarded the Russian fleet's presence as tantamount to military occupation. Former pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko had vowed that the fleet's lease of the port would not be renewed when it expired in 2017.
Yanukovych and Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev agreed last week that the lease would be extended for 25 years past that expiration. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visited Kiev on Monday to discuss the matter with Yanukovych.
Source: AP, Yahoo News
The Kremlin's influence has surged in Ukraine since the election victory of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych, infuriating Ukrainians who resent Moscow's influence, and inflaming the violent passions that plague the politics of the former Soviet republic.
The controversy over the home port for the Russian Black Sea Fleet has been one of the most emotionally fraught consequences of the breakup of the Soviet Union. Russia found one of its major fleets headquartered in a foreign country's port — Sevastopol, on the Crimean peninsula that extends from mainland Ukraine into the Black Sea. Sevastopol is about 200 miles from the nearest Russian territory.
Ukrainian nationalists who resented Moscow's long dominance of their land regarded the Russian fleet's presence as tantamount to military occupation. Former pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko had vowed that the fleet's lease of the port would not be renewed when it expired in 2017.
Yanukovych and Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev agreed last week that the lease would be extended for 25 years past that expiration. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visited Kiev on Monday to discuss the matter with Yanukovych.
VISITORS GEOFLAGS SINCE AUGUST 26, 2009
