Ukraine's parliament speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn tendered his resignation on July 4 after deputies of the majority Regions Party rushed a contentious language bill through a second and final reading the day before.
“Colleagues, I ask you to consider my resignation and take a
decision on it,” Lytvyn told an opening session of parliament.
The bill, which can not become law until first Lytvyn and
then President Viktor Yanukovich have signed it, would upgrade
the status of the Russian language in the former Soviet republic
where the official state language is Ukrainian.
Lytvyn’s move followed a night of protest in Kyiv with the
opposition – which sees the bill as a potential threat to
Ukrainian sovereignty – organising demonstrations outside a
building where Yanukovich was due to speak on July 4.
