Ukrainian speaker announces break up of majority coalition in parliament

12:10

Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn on Tuesday announced the termination of the parliamentary coalition.

"As of today, in there is no document about the coalition in the parliament's office. Therefore, I announce that the coalition ceases to exist," the speaker said.

"To my regret, our partners from the Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense, have formally announced their withdrawal from the coalition today... In fact, they withdrew from the coalition and thus terminated its activities," he said.

The Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko, the Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense and the Bloc of Lytvyn set up a coalition of democratic forces in the Verkhovna Rada in December2008.

02.03.2010