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Ukrainian parliament speaker closes sitting as opposition stymies work

The 2014 draft budget will be debated on Thursday

Speaker of Ukraine’s parliament Vladimir Rybak ITAR-TASS

Speaker of Ukraine’s parliament Vladimir Rybak

KIEV, January 15. /ITAR-TASS/. Speaker of Ukraine’s parliament Vladimir Rybak has closed the sitting of the parliament due to the fact that the opposition stymied the Verkhovna Rada’s work and disbanded deputies till Thursday.

“The 2014 draft budget will be debated on Thursday. Now we continue consultations with the leaders of the factions on the issues that we have disagreements on,” Rybak said.

The opposition said it allowed the Rada to resume the work when the parliament satisfied its demands - to dismiss Interior Minister Vitaly Zakharchneko and approve the 2014 budget by the rules.

Leader of the ruling Party of Regions Alexander Yefremov said, “The budget is prepared for approval. We’ll do our best to approve it.”

“We believe that the opposition has no grounds for preventing the approval of the budget,” he said.

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