The UDAR faction in the Verkhovna Rada has demanded that Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych personally present his annual address in parliament.

UDAR MP Rostyslav Pavlenko said that the president's address had been distributed in parliament in printed form, but opposition deputies from Batkivschyna, UDAR and Svoboda had not even started reading it and put the document on the rostrum.

Pavlenko said that the constitution foresees an annual address by the president in the Verkhovna Rada, but Yanukovych "for another year is ignoring this requirement of the law."

"Therefore, we see a written address, which was delivered to MPs, as contempt of the Verkhovna Rada. We are demanding that the president personally come to parliament, rather than give us the runaround," Pavlenko said.