A fight broke out at a summit in Turkey on Thursday after a Russian delegate pulled down a Ukrainian flag from a Ukrainian representative in the corridors of talks on Black Sea cooperation.
The incident occurred at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC), when Ukrainian MP Oleksandr Marikovski unfurled his national flag behind a member of the Russian delegation, Olga Timofeeva, as she was being interviewed.
Video of the scuffle was posted on the Facebook page of the Ukrainian delegate, Oleksandr Marikovski, involved in the melee.
‘Paws off our flag, paws off Ukraine…,’Marikovski says in his post after the confrontation.
In the video, a member of the Russian team, named Valery Stavitsky, ripped Ukraine’s flag from the hands of Mr. Marikovski and walked off while he was posing for pictures.
The Ukrainian delegate immediately gave him a chase and then launched several punches and slaps at Stavitsky before retrieving the flag from him.
The pair were later pulled apart by other attendees.
The assembly’s speaker Mustafa Şentop intervened to demand that the Ukrainians be removed from the hall.
‘Whoever we authorise to speak will speak here. I will not let anyone disturb the peace and order of this meeting. If anyone has such an intention, get out,’ he said.
