KIEV, May 12 – Internal Affairs Minister Yuriy Lutsenko on Tuesday came under pressure to resign after reports emerged he had been detained by German police in Frankfurt airport May 4 following a clash with Lufthansa crew.
The crew barred Lutsenko from boarding the Frankfurt-Seoul flight apparently suspecting he had been under heavy influence of alcohol, according to German police.
The opposition Regions Party on Tuesday blocked the session of Parliament insisting on Lutsenko’s immediate resignation and threatening to destabilize political situation in Ukraine.
President Viktor Yushchenko on Tuesday also urged Lutsenko to step down.
“If a person has been involved in such an incident, there is one step that meets moral demands: resignation,” Yushchenko said in an interview with Studio 1+1 television. “People, first of all those working in law enforcement, must be outside of any suspicion.”
Lutsenko, appearing at a press conference on Tuesday, admitted the confrontation with Lufthansa crew and with German police had taken place.
He said he submitted a letter to Parliamentary Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn asking lawmakers to immediately “consider” his resignation, but analysts said such motion would probably not be approved in Parliament.
Neither Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko nor the opposition Regions Party controls majority in Parliament.
The Tymoshenko group, as well as the opposition Communist Party, whose loyalist Vasyl Marmazov is one of Lutsenko’s deputy ministers, indicated Tuesday they would not back Lutsenko’s immediate dismissal.
Lutsenko, leading a Ukrainian internal affairs ministry delegation to Seoul, was barred by the Lufthansa crew from boarding the plane for allegedly being too drunk. Lutsenko’s 19-year-old son was also in the delegation, but was apparently heading to Seoul for healthcare reasons, according to the minister.
Lutsenko argued with the crew, but had later had a violent clash with four German police officers, according to German police. He was detained and taken to a local police station, eventually missing the flight.
German newspaper Bild was first to report on the incident, but the story was later picked up by Ukrainian media.
Lutsenko accused Ukrainian political groups and figures that call for his resignation of running a “dirty” campaign against him.
“Since the dirty campaign against me and against my son continues, I perfectly understand the difficulty of calm implementation of duties as the internal affairs minister,” Lutsenko said at the press conference.
“That’s why I asked the prime minister and the speaker of Parliament to consider immediately, today, the issue of my resignation at the session of Parliament,” he said.
Asked by reporters if he had consumed any alcohol ahead of the Frankfurt-Seoul flight, Lutsenko said: “Yes. After arrival from Kiev we had a diner at the Frankfurt airport that day. I had a glass of beer.” (tl/ez)
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