After stealing the flag, fists fly
Tangible dispute over Ukrainian flag at conference
05/05/2023 11:38 am
A conference in Ankara is supposed to be about economic cooperation between the Black Sea countries. Since both Russian and Ukrainian representatives are present, there is a scandal. At first there is only disturbance, later it comes to fisticuffs.
At a meeting of the 13 Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) countries in Ankara, a scuffle broke out between a Ukrainian and a Russian representative. The incident happened on Thursday, when a Ukrainian delegate wanted to disrupt a video interview of the Russian delegation head with a protest against Russia’s war of aggression.
He slapped a Russian delegate in the face after his Ukrainian flag was snatched from him to stop him from disrupting the action. The Ukrainian delegate posted a video on his Facebook page of him beating the Russian and reclaiming the blue and yellow flag.
According to t-online, the meeting was supposed to be about economic cooperation between the countries bordering the Black Sea. Members of the parliaments of the member states were invited.
The incident happened in a hallway of the parliament building in the Turkish capital, where the meeting took place. Shortly before, some Ukrainian delegates had clashed with security guards. They stood with flags next to the head of the Russian delegation, Olga Timofeeva, and interrupted her speech at the BSEC meeting with loud heckling. The Turkish parliament speaker Mustafa Sentop sharply condemned the actions of the Ukrainian representatives.