You're reading: Opposition decides to block Verhovna Rada’s work until its closing on Feb. 24

The opposition factions of the Ukrainian parliament intend to block the rostrum of the Verkhovna Rada until it closes on Friday.

"We have decided to block the rostrum until the end of the day (the parliament works until 1400 on Friday)," Vice Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Mykola Tomenko of the BYT-Batkivschyna party told reporters.

According to him, Parliament Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn held a meeting of the conciliation council, which addressed a proposal to remove the bill on restructuring national gas company Naftogaz Ukrainy from the parliament’s agenda, as well as adopt a resolution concerning the implementation of the PACE resolution.

"The parliamentary majority hasn’t given any guarantees on either of the two issues," Tomenko said.

The vice-speaker said that the opposition demands assurances from Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych that these two issues will be addressed, "because it is clear that if he okeys it, the majority will not vote on this bill (the bill on restructuring Naftogaz Ukrainy)."

Several dozen lawmakers from the BYT-Batkivschyna and Our Ukraine-People’s Self-Defense blocked the parliament’s rostrum on Friday morning.