Parliament blocked by opposition lawmakers

The BYuT-Batkivshchyna faction blocked the work of the Ukrainian parliament on Friday. They are still demanding the declaration of a moratorium on a rise in tariffs for public utilities and natural gas and a moratorium on the increase in the retirement age for women, as well as the introduction of tax holidays for small businesses.

The members of the Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko (BYuT) said that that any of the bills put on the agenda of the parliament were secondary compared to those proposed by them, UKRINFORM reported.

The first deputy leader of the BYuT-Batkivshchyna faction in parliament, Andriy Kozhemiakin, told reporters that the faction had "decided to block [the parliament's rostrum] until a positive vote [is held on its bills]."

On September 7, the Verkhovna Rada failed to pass all of the four bills introducing a moratorium on a rise in public utilities and the prices of natural gas for the public. Their authors were representatives of the opposition factions of the BYuT and Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense, as well as the Communist Party of Ukraine, a member of the ruling coalition.