Smoke bombs and eggs fly in Ukraine parliament!
KIEV, Ukraine - April 27, 2010 - Opposition lawmakers hurled eggs and smoke bombs inside Ukraine's parliament Tuesday as the chamber approved an agreement allowing the Russian Navy to extend its stay in a Ukrainian port until 2042.
Thousands of opposition demonstrators rallied outside the parliament building as deputies from newly elected President Viktor Yanukovich's coalition approved a 25-year extension to the Russian Black Sea Fleet's base in Crimea.
The chamber of the parliament filled with smoke as smoke bombs were released and Speaker Volodymyr Litvyn took shelter under his umbrella as eggs rained down on him.
Russia's lower house of parliament also approved the deal to extend the lease on the naval base at Ukraine's Black Sea port of Sevastopol Tuesday.
Ukrainian nationalists, led by former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and former President Viktor Yushchenko, regard the base as a betrayal of Ukraine's national interests. They wanted to remove it when the existing lease runs out in 2017.
