13:33 06.10.2017

Parubiy closes Rada plenary session 'for technical reasons'

2 min read
Parubiy closes Rada plenary session 'for technical reasons'

Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Andriy Parubiy has closed the Rada session early on Friday.

"Unfortunately, for technical reasons it's difficult to work. According to Article 51 of the rules of parliament, I, for technical reasons, am obliged to close the morning session," he said, noting that government officials were in the chamber.

As Parubiy closed the session several Cabinet of Ministers members were in the chamber. On Fridays parliament devotes an hour to the government's Q&A session. However, this did not happen on Friday because lawmakers considered legislation about Donbas.

Traditionally too few deputies attend Friday sessions to adopt legislation, but this was not the case on Friday.

Parubiy closed the session and asked parliament members to think over what transpired during debates over draft laws about Donbas. He called such behavior "unacceptable."

"We cannot allow anyone to destroy the Ukrainian parliament," he said.

During debate and voting on laws about Donbas on Friday morning deputies from various party factions and nonaligned deputies periodically scuffled with one another. Following voting on the president's draft law on providing sovereignty of Ukraine in occupied areas on Donbas and extending legislation on special local self-government in occupied areas of Donbas and Luhansk regions, MP Yuriy Levchenko (nonaligned) ignited a smoke grenade.

As earlier reported, in April 2010 during voting for ratification of a bill extending for 25 years Russia's lease agreement on Black Sea Fleet bases in Crimea a similar incident occurred. A group of MPs then threw eggs at the speaker's rostrum and ignited smoke grenades. Then Our Ukraine – People's Self-defense Party deputy Parubiy took part in those shenanigans.

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