Ukraine’s international image took another hit on Nov. 14, when fists started flying at a meeting of parliament faction leaders.
Yuriy Boyko, the leader of the Opposition Bloc faction in parliament, punched Oleh Lyashko several times after Lyashko accused him of following political orders from the Kremlin.
Before Boyko’s assault, Lyashko said that Boyko, along with another Opposition Bloc lawmaker Sergiy Lyovochkin, have been visiting Moscow government offices to receive instructions from the Kremlin.
“When will you go to the villages to meet Ukrainians?” Lyashko asked in his usual raised voice. “When will you go to the mineworkers at the mines? When will you go to the steelworkers?”
“By the way, I have a question for the Security Service of Ukraine: Why, when they keep visiting Moscow, have they still not been put in jail?”
At those words Boyko rose quickly to his feet and punched Lyashko in the face. Several lawmakers stepped in to break up the fight.
That wasn’t the end of it, however.
Lyashko asked for additional speaking time, and continued his speech. He next pointed his finger at Boyko and said “when the wicked men of” ousted Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovych and Boyko stood up again, and punched Lyashko even harder.
Verkhovna Rada Speaker Andriy Parubiy addressed Boyko, saying that “the time when you could break lawmakers’ heads with brass knuckles is over.” After that, Boyko left the meeting.
The press service of Ukraine’s police reported soon after the fight that a criminal case on the incident has been opened.
Fights between leading politicians have become depressingly commonplace, and gain regular coverage on international media. According to Svitlana Zalishchuk, a member of the parliamentary committee for foreign affairs, such incidents damage Ukraine’s image, and illustrate lawmakers’ low cultural level and inability to reach agreement through dialogue.
But if brawls between lawmakers are so damaging to Ukraine’s international image, why do they keep happening?
The answer may lie close to home, says sociologist Iryna Bekeshkina, head of the Democratic Initiatives Foundation. She said that in Ukraine, fights between lawmakers can win them public respect, and even increase their ratings.
“If a politician that they respect wins, they start respecting him even more,” she explained, speaking of the Ukrainian public.
“If he gets beaten up, they sympathize.”
She said lawmakers use brawls not just to let off steam, but to get an extra chance of media coverage.
“Boyko has not been appearing on TV much lately. Well, he might have been, but now they’ve shown that he can fight – he’s not some sissy. And Lyashko got additional attention too. And they didn’t even have to pay for it,” Bekeshkina said.
The latest incident joins a growing list of recent outbreaks of violence among Ukrainian politicians.
Last December, a member of Ukraine’s parliament, Oleh Barna, made headlines around the world when he hoisted Arseniy Yatseniuk, at that time Ukraine’s prime minister, by his crotch and tried to carry him from the parliamentary rostrum as he gave a speech.
Barna was immediately set upon by the prime minister’s allies in parliament, and a mass brawl on the floor of parliament ensued.
A month earlier, independent lawmaker Volodymyr Parasiuk kicked Vasyl Pisny from the Security Service of Ukraine in the head during a meeting of the parliamentary anti-corruption committee.
Kyiv Post staff writer Alyona Zhuk can be reached at [email protected]
