Ukraine denies violating Russians' language rights

RFE/RL Newsline

KYIV - The Foreign Affairs Ministry of Ukraine has said that Russian officials' accusations about violations of the language rights of Russians in Ukraine are "groundless."

At the center of the controversy is a draft government decree dealing with "additional measures to broaden the spheres of Ukrainian as the state language," as well as de-Russification of various spheres of activity.

Interfax reported on February 14 that Kyiv had responded to criticism of the government's resolution on language policies that was recently voiced by the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry and Russia's commissioner for human rights.

"The organizers of the [criticism] campaign ... are essentially accusing the Ukrainian authorities of the intent to ensure for all citizens the inalienable and natural right to use their native language in all spheres of public life, to revive and reinforce the [Ukrainian] national identity that was being uprooted during the decades of forced Russification," Ukraine's Foreign Affairs Ministry noted.

Russia's Human Rights Commissioner Oleg Mironov on February 10 had criticized Ukraine for what he described as restrictions on the official and business use of the Russian language. ITAR-TASS reported that he said this "is a gross and explicit violation of the norms of civilized relations among peoples and of the basic rights and freedoms of citizens proclaimed by the European Convention, to which Ukraine is a signatory."

The Russian official also urged international organizations such as the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to increase their monitoring of the situation. Mr. Mironov's comments followed a similar unofficial condemnation issued a day earlier by the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Russia.

On February 9 Interfax had reported that the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry had leaked another statement to the Russian press about its concerns over the situation facing Russian-language speakers in Ukraine. Interfax reported that it had obtained a ministry statement saying that "certain forces in Ukraine appear to create an unprecedented phenomenon in Europe, that is, exiling the native language of the overwhelming majority of the people, reducing it to a marginal level, and possibly ousting it completely."

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, February 20, 2000, No. 8, Vol. LXVIII

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