The status of the Russian language in Ukraine has always been a subject of political contention. Before every presidential or parliamentary election, this issue emerges once more and is used by populist politicians. Some time has passed since the presidential elections, personnel rotation was carried out, and the political situation changed, but the language issue is still there. Why? Another election is coming up, this time local. Politicians of different levels, knowing very well that the Constitution of Ukraine acknowledges only one state language — Ukrainian, are again abusing the people’s sentiments by promising to make Russian the second state language. They even started taking practical steps.
“To state that in the Zaporizhia region Russian as a language of international communication is used in all spheres of public life, and is a regional language,” says a resolution of the Zaporizhia regional council. Thus, according to the memorandum, the regional council decided to lift restrictions on the use of Russian in the media and educational institutions in the region. The executive bodies of the regional council were entrusted to ensure the use of Russian alongside Ukrainian at the Zaporizhia regional council.
Similar decisions were taken in Zaporizhia before, at both regional and municipal levels. But the court canceled them every time. There are similar examples in all “white and blue” areas of Ukraine: in the Crimea, Odesa, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, etc. All these councils granted Russian the status of a regional language, and courts canceled them everywhere.
Why is this happening? First, because this way politicians seemingly fulfill their promises. Secondly, it distracts citizens from urgent social and economic problems. “Participating in the elections with slogans of improving roads, housing, utilities, the state of schools and hospitals, two months before the elections the Zaporizhia regional council members pretend that only one pressing issue remains: destroying the Ukrainian language,” stated the leader of the party “For Ukraine!” Viacheslav Kyrylenko.
A deputy of the faction “Our Ukraine-People’s Self-Defense” Yaroslav Kendzior was even harsher: “[the deputies of the Zaporizhia Regional Council] approve it, knowing that this is a totally illegal and unconstitutional decision. Its simply in order to demonstrate their blind commitment to pro-Russian anti-Ukrainian forces. I would advise those deputies not to defame the glorious Zaporizhian settlement of freemen by their decision to rename the region after Stalin. Incidentally, there is even a monument to him.”
The All-Ukrainian Association “Svoboda” already stated that they would try to cancel the decision of the Zaporizhia regional council: “Once again the Communists and the Party of Regions try to distract people’s attention by means of the mythical ‘Russian language issue’ from really urgent problems before the elections.”
The Day asked the head of the Center for Political and Legal Reforms Ihor Koliushko to comment on the situation: “We assume that all decisions and laws of governmental bodies and local self-government must comply with the Constitution of Ukraine. In this case, provisions of Article 10 of the Constitution are of crucial importance, as is the Supreme Court’s interpretation, which clearly states that Ukrainian is the only state language. Local governmental bodies have no authority to make decisions that would contradict this status. One can use minority languages locally, but one cannot restrict the use of the state language.
The resolution of the Zaporizhia regional council, like all other similar decisions, refers to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. However, here we deal with a misinterpretation. “There are a lot of misunderstandings with the European Charter. The European Charter aims at preserving minority languages. It concerns those languages, which due to restricted usage find themselves on the brink of extinction. Certainly, such languages should be supported and protected. But Russian doesn’t belong to such languages. In this case, our situation is the opposite. In Ukraine, the Ukrainian language has a much weaker position than Russian does. The amount of literature, media, etc. clearly shows this. It is rather the Ukrainian language that needs protection. This is the first thing. Second, the provisions of the Charter, even if we abstract away from its task, cannot be interpreted contrary to the provisions of the Constitution of Ukraine. That is, if you want to support the Russian language or any other language, please translate into Russian all the documents, which according to the Constitution of Ukraine, should be produced in Ukrainian. But you cannot replace the Ukrainian language by Russian as the main language of governmental bodies, education, legal proceedings, etc.,” said Ihor Koliushko.
But the political situation in Ukraine today is quite different from what it was a year ago. Under President Viktor Yushchenko courts canceled the decisions of regional councils. With Viktor Yanukovych as president, they may abstain from doing so. Even during his first visit to Moscow Viktor Yanukovych said that though Ukraine adopted the European Charter of Regional Languages, the corresponding laws to ensure the rights of minority languages were not adopted: “I will fulfill this promise to the Ukrainian people.” It should be noted that just the other day the coalition registered a bill on languages in the parliament.
Deputies offer to ensure the unfettered development of the Russian language, in view of the fact that most citizens of the county use it, and recognize the Ukrainian-Russian bilingualism as an important legacy of the Ukrainian people. Specifically, this bill guarantees citizens the right to obtain education in the country in the Ukrainian and Russian languages, or another regional language within their respective territories. This includes pre-school, high school, extracurricular activities, vocational schools, and higher state and municipal educational establishments with Ukrainian or other languages of instruction.
It is suggested that legal proceedings should be conducted in Ukrainian or a corresponding regional language; pre-trial investigation, inquiry and prosecutor’s supervision — in Ukrainian or Russian; notarial paperwork — in Ukrainian (with the possibility of translation into another language); social and economic activity — in Ukrainian, Russian or other language. Moreover, it is suggested that in the academic sphere languages should be used freely; television and radio broadcasting, postal services, and advertising should also be unrestricted.
The coalition has the votes, so one can guess what decision will be made. Then the courts will hardly be able to cancel the decisions of Zaporizhia’s or other councils (the governor of the Odesa region Eduard Matviychuk promised to make Russian the second official language in the region and use it on a par with Ukrainian) regarding the status of Russian as regional language. We’ll see what the Constitution has to say about this.
