This article is more than 10 years old

This article is more than 10 years old

It is a country riven by bitter division, seething political conflict and furious tempers. Not Britain, but less genteel Ukraine, where parliamentarians today staged one of the most memorable brawls of recent times, involving eggs, fists, smoke bombs and an umbrella used as a shield.

Ukraine's parliament erupted when parliamentarians were asked to vote on a controversial law allowing Russia to continue to use a naval base in Crimea.

Opposition MPs oppose the move by Ukraine's new pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovych, describing it as a betrayal. As scuffles broke out, nationalist MPs unfurled the Ukrainian flag.

They then began pelting the speaker, Volodymyr Lytvyn, with eggs. As bodyguards protected him with two umbrellas, Yanukovych's supporters joined in, slapping and punching one hapless MP. Smoke then filled the chamber.

The clashes symbolise the split between Ukraine's Russian-speaking east and south and Ukrainian west and centre. These divisions, though sometimes exaggerated, have worsened since Yanukovych's narrow victory in February's election.

Soon after winning, Yanukovych torpedoed the coalition of his defeated Orange rival, Yulia Tymoshenko, luring MPs away from her government. "Today will go down as a black page in the history of Ukraine and the Ukrainian parliament," Tymoshenko said in parliament.

She vowed to tear up the deal with Russia as soon as she was returned to power. Her party accuses the new government of selling Ukraine's sovereignty – with deputies today shouting "betrayal", "traitor" and "impeachment".

Yanukovych this week agreed to extend the lease to Russia's Black Sea fleet on the Crimean port of Sevastopol for 25 years, until 2042. In return, the Kremlin has given Ukraine a 30% discount on its gas bill.

Despite promising to pursue a foreign policy on many fronts, and eventually EU membership, Yanukovych has swiftly returned Ukraine to Russia's orbit. He has so far made no concessions to the western half of the country.

His pro-western predecessor Viktor Yushchenko had promised to evict Russia from Sevastopol when the original lease expired in 2017. Russia's prime minister, Vladimir Putin – no fan of Ukrainian nationalism – described the egg-throwers as hooligans.