Ukraine’s democracy proved as fragile on April 27 as the raw eggs that pelted Verkhovna Rada Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn.
WATCH VIDEO FROM YOUTUBE HERE.
The crowd was nasty, clownish and thuggish — and that was just inside parliament, among the nation’s 450 top lawmakers. But there were also tense moments outside as well, among a crowd estimated at several thousand demonstrators. Most were from the political opposition and tried to fight their way into parliament. But they were easily repelled by platoons of police and helmeted Berkut riot-control officers.
Fisticuffs ruled the day as deputies practiced their chokeholds on each other.
Amid the pandemonium, fisticuffs, smoke bombs, tossed eggs and vandalism of voting machines, a slim majority of the nation’s lawmakers voted to ratify an historic deal that is likely to divide the nation for months, years or even decades to come.
Bodyguards shield Verkhovna Rada Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn from eggs.
The deal allows the Russian Black Sea Fleet to remain in the Ukrainian port of Sevastopol until at least 2042 – a quarter century after the current lease expires. In return, Ukraine gets to import Russian natural gas for what is billed by the government as a 30 percent “discount” price, but which energy experts say is no bargain at all. But the gas-import price certainty was enough to allow the lawmakers to pass a 2010 budget.
Lytvyn announced that 236 lawmakers – 10 more than the simple majority needed – voted to ratify the agreement signed in Kharkiv between Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. The vote took place at 10:37 a.m. as the haze from lit smoke bombs filled the session hall.
Video footage of the bloody melee is available on youtube here, here and here.
The opposition – led on the streets by ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and inside by 150 deputies of her bloc — called parliament’s vote rigged. They tried in vain to physically stop the vote by covering their desks with the Ukrainian flag. Some deputies tossed a hail of raw eggs at the speaker, who sat at the rostrum protected by two bodyguards who shielded Lytvyn under two black umbrellas.
The vote is suspect since only 211 lawmakers, 15 less than the majority required to ratify the vote, registered for the session. A dozen new Party of Regions deputies were sworn in before the crucial vote. All deputies belonging to the ruling coalition — Party of Regions, Communist Party and Volodymyr Lytvyn bloc — supported the measure, along with 13 non-aligned deputies.
Tymoshenko vowed to unite the democratic opposition in nationwide protests culminating in a major event on May 11, when parliament reconvenes.
“Starting today, we will travel throughout the country calling on people to stand up for Ukraine when these traitors return to work. We stand for either denunciation of the Black Sea fleet agreement or new parliamentary elections,” Tymoshenko told supporters outside the Rada.
In contrast, lawmakers with the Russian State Duma in Moscow more quietly and orderly ratified the Russian side of the bargain – by a vote of 410-0.
In Kyiv, there was no unity on the streets either. Protesters on both sides of the issue blocked traffic along Hrushevskogo Street and clogged traffic on roads near the Presidential Administration and government offices in downtown Kyiv.
Many people argued over who was to blame for the political split between ex-President Viktor Yushchenko and Tymoshenko, dooming the opposition to its current divided, minority status. “Tymoshenko has too much ambition and does not care about anything except returning to power,” one in the crowd yelled.
Another responded that Yushchenko is to be blamed – and should be tried for treason – for not supporting Tymoshenko’s candidacy in the Feb. 7 presidential election.
“Some people listened to Yushchenko and that is the only reason Yanukovych is president now,” another person countered.
Some famous politicians mixed with the crowd – including ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs Volodymyr Ogryzko and ex-head of the presidential administration Oleksandr Tretyakov. Some asked for their advice. Others urged the crowd to break through the police lines so they could “beat deputies out of parliament.”
As a second smoke bomb exploded inside, Communist Party deputy Kateryna Samoilyk was at the rostrum. She vowed: “Nationalism will be chased out of Ukraine.”
Tymoshenko bloc deputy Volodymyr Polokhalo said Party of Regions deputies occupied the chamber by force and voted from the seats of deputies from Our Ukraine opposition. “After the second smoke bomb went off, they barged into the Our Ukraine sector and used the cards of the deputies who defected from the faction in order to pass the vote,” Polokhalo said.
No faction took responsibility for the bombs. Deputies pointed fingers at each other for instigating the smoke attack. Vyacheslav Kyrylenko, leader of the Our Ukraine faction, said he didn’t know who they were but called them "real patriots."
Party of Regions faction leader Oleksandr Efremov said the vote was fair and that colleagues fought only in self-defense. “Retaliation is warranted when people are throwing eggs or smoke bombs at you and yelling insults,” Efremov said.
Some deputies decided to come out for some fresh air in the hall, but windows were locked and somebody called for a technician to open them up. The smoke was slowly rising up to the balconies where journalists, diplomats, and deputies’ aides watched the skirmish. After half an hour, throats were scratching from smoke in the hall. People were covering nose and mouth with napkins.
Opposition members also poured glue and stuffed paper into the slots of the voting machines in failed bids to disable them. Technicians managed to clean some slots – mainly from the Party of Regions and the Communist Party sides of the aisle.
The U.S. Embassy estimated the size of the crowd at 10,000, but other believe the crowd numbered about half of that. Most were in opposition to the ratification, but hundreds of Party of Regions supporters also occupied tents.
Yulia Tymoshenko, former prime minister and opposition leader
The protesters were not well-coordinated or organized. They at times appeared to be unsure of what slogans to yell as Tymoshenko addressed them.
Kyiv Post staff writers Peter Byrne, Svitlana Tuchynska, Yuliya Popova, Mark Rachkevych and Oksana Faryna contributed to this report.
