The incident erupted at a meeting of the Organization for Black Sea Economic Cooperation (OCEMN) this Thursday, May 4, 2023 in Ankara (Turkey). As a member of the Russian delegation is interviewed, Ukrainian Vice President Oleksandr Marikovsky displays behind her the flag of his country, which has been invaded by Russia for more than a year.
A Russian officer, unable to bear the sight, rushed to snatch the flag from the deputy’s hands, who became enraged and assaulted him before others arrived to separate the two representatives.
“We sense a fear on the side of Ukraine’s supporters: they fear what we might find in the coming weeks.”
Marikovsky later captioned the video of the incident as “Feet from our flag, Feet from Ukraine, Russian trash!” Published with the title. Russian news agency RIA Novosti later reported that the Russian delegation had been transferred to a hospital for medical examination.
Not the first incident
Inside the Assembly of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, another clash had already taken place: Ukrainian representatives waved the national flag while Russian representative Olga Timofeeva sat on the podium.
The confusion gives an idea of the climate in which BSEC’s 13 member states will meet, which was supposed to offer solutions for Ukrainian grain exports, which have been severely disrupted since the start of the war.
In 2014, the BSEC meeting had already turned sour, with Ukrainian representatives criticizing Vladimir Putin’s Russian invasion of Crimea.
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