7 Oct 2021 13:23

Ukrainian parliament removes Razumkov from post of its speaker

KYIV. Oct 7 (Interfax) - The Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada by the majority of 284 its members voted in favor of removing Dmytro Razumkov from the post of its speaker at a plenary session on Thursday.

Razumkov headed the Servant of the People political party from May to November 2019 and topped the party's ticket in Ukraine's early parliamentary elections in 2019. He was appointed the Verkhovna Rada speaker on August 29, 2019.

When delivering a speech in the parliament on Thursday, Razumkov said that the principles and values of the Servant of the People party with which it came to power in 2019 after the early parliamentary elections have changed.

"All this time, I tried to make at least some of the promises [given by the Servant of People party during its election campaign in 2019] a reality [...] But if we again take a look at the principles, the principle of democracy as the people's right with which we came to power has become the principle of majority rule, while the principle of the rule of rights and law has been replaced by political feasibility, the principle of the right to have one's own position and freedom of speech has been replaced by the principle of 'those who are not with us are against us', the 'one law for all' principle has become the principle of 'all for friends, law for foes', and the principle of 'offshore assets are a disgrace for the authorities' has turned into the principle of 'that's okay, every individual entrepreneur has them'," Razumkov said.

"There is too much dirt" in the parliament today, Razumkov said, adding that he "never went with the flow" and is not going to do so in the future.

"Not a single post costs this self-respect, dignity and, what counts most, people's trust," he said.

Razumkov also said that his principles and values remain unchanged.

"I also have the desire and strength to prove to the people that they were wrong not about everyone. I am convinced that there will be plenty of such people in this hall as well," he said.

It is always hard to decide and go "against the system," he said.

As reported, leader of the Servant of the People faction in the Verkhovna Rada Davyd Arakhamia on September 30 sent a letter on behalf of the faction's members, seeking Razumkov's removal from the post of parliament speaker.