18 Jun 2014 17:07

Russian upper house chief hails planned dismissal of Ukraine's acting foreign minister

MOSCOW. June 18 (Interfax) - The head of Russia's upper house of parliament has hailed the planned dismissal of Andriy Deshchytsya as Ukraine's acting foreign minister.

"It's an appropriate reaction of the Ukrainian president to the undiplomatic behavior of the former acting minister of foreign affairs," Federation Council Chair Valentina Matviyenko told reporters on Wednesday.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko had nominated Pavlo Klimkin, ambassador to Germany, as foreign minister and on Wednesday requested parliamentary approval for this.

The planned reshuffle followed a scandal that broke out after Deshchytsya, at a rally outside the Russian Embassy in Kyiv on June 14, hurled an obscene insult at Russian President Vladimir Putin.