Ukraine's parliament speaker resigns over Russian language bill

PanARMENIAN.Net - Ukraine's parliament speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn tendered his resignation on Wednesday, July 4 after deputies of the majority Regions Party rushed a contentious language bill through a second and final reading the day before, Reuters said.

"Colleagues, I ask you to consider my resignation and take a decision on it," Lytvyn told an opening session of parliament.

The bill, which cannot become law until first Lytvyn and then President Viktor Yanukovich have signed it, would upgrade the status of the Russian language in the former Soviet republic where the official state language is Ukrainian.

Lytvyn's move followed a night of protest in Kiev with the opposition - which sees the bill as a potential threat to Ukrainian sovereignty - organizing demonstrations outside a building where Yanukovich was due to speak on Wednesday.