Ukrainian Lawmaker Delivers 'Strong Punch' to Russian Official Who Snatched National Flag

A Lawmaker Who Threw a Punch After a Dispute at Ankara International Conference Hall in Turkey Shares Assault Video on SNS

Turkey hosted a fistfight between a Ukrainian lawmaker and a Russian official over a dispute involving national flags at an international conference hall.

According to foreign media including the US CBS network and Russia's TASS news agency on the 5th (local time), the altercation occurred the previous day in the hallway of the Turkish Parliament building in Ankara, where the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Parliamentary Assembly (PABSEC) meeting was held.

Oleksandr Marykovskyi, Ukrainian lawmaker, punches a member of the Russian delegation [Image source=Yonhap News]

Video footage of the incident shows Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksandr Mariikovskyi holding his country's flag at a photo zone set up in the event lobby for commemorative photos. Suddenly, Russian aide Valeriy Stavitsky approached him, snatched the Ukrainian flag from Mariikovskyi without a word, then turned and quickly walked away in another direction.

Enraged, Mariikovskyi immediately chased after Stavitsky and repeatedly punched him on the back of the head and back, reclaiming the stolen flag. Although Mariikovskyi seemed still agitated after retrieving the flag, officials at the venue intervened and stopped the fight.

TASS reported that after the incident, a Russian consul and a doctor visited the hotel to check on Stavitsky's condition.

Mariikovskyi shared the video on his Facebook account, writing, "Keep your feet off our flag, get out of Ukraine. Russia XXX!" As of the afternoon of the 6th, the post had received about 90,000 likes and was shared 30,000 times.

Serhiy Kyslytsya, Ukraine's ambassador to the United Nations, defended Mariikovskyi's actions, saying, "Whether it was the US or any other country, would they have tolerated their national flag being trampled?" Meanwhile, Dmitry Polyansky, Russia's deputy ambassador to the UN, condemned the incident, stating, "There were provocations by Ukraine throughout the meeting, and 'that incident (the assault)' was the climax of the day."

On the 4th (local time), at the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Parliamentary Assembly (PABSEC) meeting held in Ankara, Turkey, the Ukrainian delegation is displaying their national flag next to Olga Timofeyeva, the Deputy Head of the Russian delegation.
[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

Before the assault, there was also a commotion inside the meeting hall when the Ukrainian delegation attempted to unfurl their national flag in response to a Russian representative's remarks but were stopped by the Turkish parliamentary speaker. The Turkish Parliament posted photos of the disturbance on its website, and Mustafa ?entop, the Speaker of the Turkish Parliament, strongly reprimanded the act. He said, "I condemn this action that disrupted the peaceful environment Turkey is trying to establish."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.