Ukraine parliament mulls requiring lawmakers to check guns

MOSCOW – Ukraine's parliament is considering a bill that would require lawmakers to check their guns at the entrance.

News agency Ukrinform reported that Volodymyr Areshonkov, a deputy head of parliament's rules committee, said Friday the measure would oblige lawmakers to leave weapons and explosives in lockers.

The statement comes after Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko accused lawmaker Nadiya Savchenko, a former military pilot who became a national icon after spending two years in a Russian prison, of plotting an attack on parliament with grenades and automatic weapons.

The accusations followed Savchenko's claim that Lutsenko was covering up the killings of protesters during Ukraine's 2014 uprising.

Savchenko told reporters in parliament she has the right to carry a gun as an officer but refused to say whether she had it in her bag.