MPs of Batkivschyna faction Vyacheslav Kutovy and Volodymyr Kupchak have declared that they are leaving their faction.
The MPs made the relative statement at a press conference hosted by Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday.
Kupchak, explaining his resignation, said that the Batkivschyna faction betrayed ex-Premier Yulia Tymoshenko, who had called for the end of the “Rise Up, Ukraine!” campaign.
Moreover, the MP reported that after voting for the law on a remedial bank, which wasn’t supported by Batkivschyna, he received threats from the faction’s leader, Arseniy Yatseniuk, including threats of physical violence.
“Yesterday I had a conflict directly with Arseniy Petrovych [Yatseniuk], where I heard definite threats, including the threat of physical reprisals and that I would gain a personal enemy for my whole life,” Kupchak said.
Kupchak and Kutovy called on other Batkivschyna MPs who are dissatisfied with their leadership to follow their example. Kupchak said there were about 30 such MPs in the faction, and suggested that they might also soon leave the faction.
Opening the evening sitting of the Verkhovna Rada, parliament Chairman Volodymyr Rybak said that parliament had received statements from Kupchak and Kutovy on their resignation from the Batkivschyna faction.
“That’s what your blocking [parliament] can cause,” he added.
Earlier Rybak reported that opposition deputies wanted to leave the faction.
“When I walked into the hall, several MPs from the opposition came up to me and handled me statements that they wanted to quit the faction.”
Kupchak, a member of no party, was elected as an MP in the 84th district (Ivano-Frankivsk region), as a candidate from the Batkivschyna Union, and was unemployed at the time of his election.
Kutovy, a member of no party, was elected in the 95th district (Kyiv region), as a candidate from Batkivschyna Union, and before the elections led Gasovik Ltd. He lives in the village of Vyshneve.
As reported, at the Tuesday sitting MPs failed to vote for the adoption of the law on peculiarities of the work of a remedial bank, which was earlier approved as a basic draft during an off-session sitting of the parliament on April 4, and refused to submit it for a repeat reading.
