KIEV - Ukrainian Parliament Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn on Wednesday sent his resignation request to the parliament over the adoption of the controversial Russian language bill.
"Dear colleagues, I ask you to consider and decide on my resignation," Lytvyn said, while opening the morning session of the parliament.
According to Lytvyn, Tuesday's approving of the bill that would allow the use of the Russian language, alongside Ukrainian, in 13 of Ukraine's 27 administrative regions was his motivation for leaving.
Many Ukrainians are concerned that such domination of the Russian language will make it de-facto the second state language in Ukraine, Lytvyn said, while adding that the society needs a broad dialogue on this issue.
Lytvyn expressed his dissatisfaction over that the vote on the bill took place in his absence.
According to local media, Parliament Deputy Speaker Mykola Tomenko, who is a member of the opposition Batkivshina Political Party, also resigned over the language bill dispute.
On Tuesday, Ukraine's parliament approved the final reading of a law allowing local governments to grant official status to Russian and other languages spoken by over 10 percent of their residents.
The bill will become law after Lytvyn first and President Viktor Yanukovych then sign it.
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