The Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada's foreign affairs committee has turned down a draft resolution on the severance of diplomatic relations with Russia, says Volodymyr Aryev, of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc parliamentary faction.

"A group of radical and populist deputies suddenly wished to sever diplomatic relations with Russia. Exactly at the time when the internal situation is the tensest. Actually, such a step remains possible, but it must be timely in the first place, when it's a well coordinated and well-prepared decision, by all foreign political institutions, and the government. But when a powerful weapon is used for shouts and self-promotion, it can't be called anything other than stupidity or deliberate sabotage. The foreign affairs committee has just reviewed this draft resolution by six votes and then turned it down," Aryev said on Facebook, on Tuesday.

Six committee members, i.e., Anna Hopko (unaffiliated), Aryev, Ivanna Klympush-Tsyntsadze, Svitlana Zalyschuk, and Iryna Lutsenko (Petro Poroshenko Bloc), and Oleksandr Prysiazhniuk (People's Front) voted for turning the draft resolution down, he said.

The draft resolution on severing diplomatic relations with Russia was registered on March 15. Its authors are Oksana Korchynska and Yuriy-Bohdan Shukhevych of the Radical Party, Oleh Petrenko of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, Ihor Lutsenko of the Batkivschyna faction, and unaffiliated parliamentarian Volodymyr Parasiuk.