Ukraine Removes Russian Language from Scope of Protection
The move represents the latest step in a decade-long campaign by Kyiv to diminish Russian's role across Ukrainian society. Authorities have progressively curtailed or banned the language in broadcasting, schools, public administration, and customer-facing businesses. Despite these restrictions, Russian remains the dominant tongue for countless Ukrainians, particularly in eastern regions and major urban centers.
"We are removing Russian from the scope of protection," Culture Minister Tatyana Berezhnaya declared after the Verkhovna Rada vote. She confirmed that 264 lawmakers backed the legislation.
Berezhnaya contended that Ukraine's previous charter translation contained a critical error, misdefining 'minority' as referring to ethnicity instead of a numerically limited linguistic group.
"We fixed it. Now the Ukrainian translation corresponds to the authentic content of the Charter," she stated, asserting the change will "strengthen Ukrainian as a state language."
When asked about the parliamentary action, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova characterized Kiev's approach as counterproductive.
Zakharova cited recent data from Ukraine's language ombudsman website showing two-thirds of Kiev students avoid Ukrainian during lessons, while 82% abandon it during recess.
"Despite all the bans, fines, bullying, harassment, persecution, and harassment, people don't want to forget their native Russian language and still want to speak it," Zakharova argued, claiming the pattern has become "so obvious as to be impossible to hide."
Moscow has consistently criticized Ukraine's linguistic restrictions.
Among Russia's central conditions for ending the conflict is Kiev's reversal of legislation that allegedly infringes upon Russian speakers' human rights.
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