There was mild drama between delegates of Russia and Ukraine in Ankara, Turkey, on Thursday in the corridors of talks on Black Sea cooperation.
The dramatic incident played out during the 61st Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Community on Thursday, over 14 months after Russia invaded Ukraine.
A bawdy fistfight and slap-fest erupted when the Russian delegate’s secretary, Valery Stavitskiy, snatched away a Ukraine flag that was being held up for a photo op, and Marikovski grabbed it back, punching and slapping the Russian in the process.
The MP gave him a chase and rained punches. He was intercepted by other officials but after he snatched the flag back.
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.
Others present at the spot were seen filming the incident.
The flare-up in tensions between the two warring nations come a day after Russia claimed Ukraine tried to assassinate President Vladimir Putin with a drone attack on the Kremlin, an accusation denied by Ukraine.
The Black Sea Economic Community was formed over 30 years ago and both Russia and Ukraine are its members. It aims at “working towards peace, stability and prosperity in the Black Sea region.”
Russia’s news agency TASS reported that the consul and a doctor came to the hotel to attend to Stavitsky after the incident.
The video was authenticated by Ukraine’s Ambassador to the U.N. Sergiy Kyslytsya, who spoke to CBS News on Friday, asking if Americans or any nation would put up with the taking down of their flag.
Russia’s UN first Deputy Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy confirmed the video as well, and told CBS News “it was an apex of the whole day” of what he called Ukrainian provocations during the meeting.
Earlier, members of Ukraine’s parliament hung a Ukraine flag at their table before Turkey’s parliament speaker Mustafa Sentop nixed it and later condemned some of the Ukrainian delegates’ “provocative and physically offensive actions.”
Both the Ukrainian and Russian UN Ambassadors made clear that the meeting where the fight took place was not at the talks in Istanbul, Turkey, also taking place on Friday, where the U.N., Turkey, Ukraine and Russia are meeting to try to salvage the grain deal that is up for renewal on 18 May.