Fights between Ukrainian lawmakers regularly hit the international headlines, and this year was no exception. Here are some of the most notable ones:
Sobolev, Ivchenko brawl
A fight between Yegor Sobolev of the Samopomich Party and Vadym Ivchenko of the Batkivshchyna Party erupted on Feb. 12 after they had a disagreement over a bill authored by Ivchenko. The law aimed to transfer land administration rights to local authorities.
Sobolev, the head of the parliament’s anti-corruption committee, said the bill would enable corruption. A brawl ensued in the hallway outside the legislative chamber and both had bloodied lips by the time they were separated by security guards.
“This is how the fight against corruption happens, in the truest sense of the word,” Sobolev wrote on his Facebook page after the brawl.
Ivchenko in turn accused Sobolev of lobbying for the state land agency Derzhkomzem.
Radicals corner ‘tushka’
Radical Party leader Oleh Lyashko got into a tussle with former party member Serhiy Melnychuk on March 3. Lyashko accused Melnychuk, who led the Aidar Battalion, of being a tushka, an offensive word used to describe lawmakers who change parties mid-term, after Melnychuk announced he was joining another party.
The fight began in the parliament hall and then continued into the corridor.
Lyashko, accompanied by other members of the Radical party, pushed Melnychuk down the corridor shouting, “Tushka out! Tushka out!” Melnychuk eventually found refuge in a back room.
He was subsequently expelled from Lyashko’s Radical Party in February.
Volia Naroda, the party that Melnychuk joined, was formed by the late lawmaker and multi-millionaire Igor Yeremeyev, who died in August.
After the fight, Lyashko told journalists: “Melnychuk betrayed the voters – he’s working for the enemy.”
Melnychuk told journalists that Lyashko had provoked the fight.
Teteruk hits Kuzhel
Andriy Teteruk, a lawmaker with the People’s Front party, struck the Batkivshchyna Party’s Oleksandra Kuzhel with a glass water bottle near the Verkhovna Rada speaker’s office on Nov. 5.
In comments to various Ukrainian media, Teteruk described his actions as “self-defense.” He said that Kuzhel, 62, started beating him with her purse and then he accidentally touched her head with the bottle that he was holding.
Kuzhel was hospitalized with a concussion. She went to police but withdrew her statement later. Immediately after the incident, a fight broke out between Teteruk and other lawmakers. The fight was caught on security cameras.
Parasyuk kicks official
Independent lawmaker, EuroMaidan Revolution activist and Donbas war veteran Volodymyr Parasyuk kicked General Vasyl Pisnyi of the Security Service of Ukraine in the head during a meeting of the parliament’s anti-corruption committee on Nov. 19.
The dramatic scene was caught on camera, and video of the incident showed Parasyuk flying at Pisnyi, aiming a ninja-style kick to the high-ranking SBU officer’s head.
Before the attack, Parasyuk accused Pisnyi of sheltering corrupt police officers and hiding the extent of his wealth.
Parasyuk could now face up to five years in prison for attacking the SBU officer, according to prosecutor Vladyslav Kutsenko. A criminal investigation into the incident is ongoing.
Barna grabs Yatsenyuk
Lawmaker Oleh Barna from President Petro Poroshenko’s Bloc pulled Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk from the podium in parliament as he was delivering his annual report on Dec. 11 – but it was the lawmaker’s choice of grip that many found shocking.
The awkward incident saw Barna first give the prime minister a bouquet of roses before then attempting to hoist him by the groin, with one of his arms positioned in between Yatsenyuk’s legs. A brawl ensued, with punches thrown, as members of the prime minister’s People’s Front party coming to his defense.
Barna, who heads an anti-corruption subcommittee, has been after Yatsenyuk for some time. He started a petition to remove the prime minister from office in November.
Barna was banned from five parliamentary plenary sessions for his actions.
Avakov throws glass
Interior Minister Arseniy Avakov and governor of Odesa Oblast Mikheil Saakashvili clashed at a meeting of the National Council of Reforms on Dec. 15.
Avakov threw a half-filled glass of water at Saakashvili during a heated discussion about the Odesa Portside Plant, a major state-owned chemical producer whose sale the government has postponed numerous times. It has recently been at the center of numerous corruption allegations.
Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk also got involved towards the end of the argument, taking Avakov’s side.
In the background, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko sat with his hands covering his face.
