Reports from state media and videos show that there were scuffles between Russian and Ukrainian delegates at a conference in Turkey this week. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation in Ankara, Turkey, witnessed two separate altercations over Ukrainian flags on Thursday. In one video, a Ukrainian lawmaker holds up a Ukrainian flag behind a woman in a blue suit who is capturing herself on a cellphone camera. The secretary of the Russian delegation then walks up and rips the flag out of the Ukrainian man’s hands. The Ukrainian lawmaker follows him, slaps at him, and tears the flag out of his hands. Video of the tussle was posted on the lawmaker’s Facebook page and also circulated widely on social media. Russian news reports named the woman in the video as Olga Timofeeva, a member of the Russian delegation, and said she was filming a broadcast interview at the time of the incident. Tass identified the man who grabbed the Ukrainian flag as Valery Stavitsky, the Russian delegation’s secretary, and said that he was taken to a hospital for medical attention after being attacked. Earlier on Thursday, Ukrainian lawmakers tried to “disrupt” a speech by a Russian official by unfurling a Ukrainian flag, resulting in a physical altercation, according to video posted by Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency.
2023-05-05 05:53:57
Source from www.nytimes.com