Speaking at the summit in Minsk on the Ukraine crisis, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that an agreement had been reached on the withdrawal of all foreign troops from his country's territory, and that a cease-fire will come into effect soon. (Reuters)
Ukraine's parliament speaker seek code of ethics after yet another brawl:
A fight between two members of the Ukrainian parliament led to a disruption of a parliamentary session and calls for an ethics code for lawmakers.
Yehor Sobolyev of the Samopomich (Self-Assistance) political alliance got in a scuffle on February 12 with Vadym Ivchenko of the Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party after disagreeing over a bill on land ownership.
Security personnel were forced to stop the fight, which bloodied Ivchenko's nose and Sobolyev's lip.
Speaker Volodymyr Hroysman declared a 15-minute break in the parliament session as the scuffle erupted.
Hroysman said later as the parliamentary session resumed its work that the two lawmakers would be punished for their behavior by being barred from taking part in the parliament's next five sessions.
Hroysman also recommended adopting a code of ethics for lawmakers that they would have to sign and adhere to.
Ukrainian lawmakers have brawled several times in recent years. (UNIAN and Interfax)
Minsk Memes: Two Dictators, Two Presidents, A Chancellor, And A Chair
The leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France, and Germany negotiated through the night in Minsk in hopes of an agreement to stop the bloody conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Unfortunately for restless journalists on the scene and for those following it online, most of the discussion happened behind closed doors.
But the Internet never sleeps and the world leaders made "news" in some unexpected ways during the few moments when they did emerge.
Did Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka, for instance, engage in some passive-aggressive musical chairs with his much more powerful Russian colleague, Vladimir Putin?
It's what everyone is thinking.
This was how the fight in parliament started:
And here's another angle:
Well, that's one way of doing it.
Latest from Poroshenko:
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said implementing the terms of a new peace deal that was reached after marathon negotiations in Minsk will prove to be "not easy."
Speaking from Brussels late February 12, Poroshenko described his 16 hours of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Francois Hollande, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel as "very difficult."
The talks that started on February 11 and concluded the following day were the latest attempt to stop the fighting between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists that has claimed nearly 6,000 lives in 10 months.
In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said, "We will judge the commitment of Russia and the separatists by their actions, not their words."
Kerry said the United States is "prepared to consider rolling back sanctions on Russia when [the agreements] are fully implemented."