Ukraine language law sidelines Russian speakers

THE Ukrainian language must be spoken in official settings in Ukraine according to a new law that some fear will antagonise the country’s significant minority of Russian speakers.

Language has been an especially contentious topic since Moscowbacked separatists in two largely Russian-speaking regions began fighting government forces in 2014, following protests that deposed a pro-russian government.

Ukraine’s parliament passed the language law yesterday in a vote of 278 to 38, despite criticism from activists and politicians including Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the president-elect.

Petro Poroshenko, the incumbent president who lost his re-election bid to the comedian in a landslide last weekend, said he would sign the legislation into law.

A native Russian speaker, Mr Zelenskiy said last week that he had “questions about the law” and insisted that “you can’t take away Russian television” from the many native Russian speakers in the country.

His spokesman Dmytro Razumkov, who has made nearly all public statements for Mr Zelenskiy since he was elected, said that Ukrainian language should be promoted “with the carrot rather than the stick”.

While Mr Zelenskiy spoke Ukrainian during a stadium debate with Mr Poroshenko before the vote, his native language is Russian and he is seeking a tutor to help him perfect his Ukrainian.

The law stipulates that people acting in most official capacities speak in Ukrainian, including state employees working in communications, health, education and public transport.

The law also set quotas that 90 per cent of new films and television, and half of books must be in Ukrainian.

Other languages may be spoken in private and at religious services.