Viktor Medvedchuk, Chairman of the Political Council of the Opposition Platform - For Life Party, said that his faction will appeal to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine if Vladimir Zelensky signs the law On Complete General Secondary Education, adopted by the Verkhovna Rada, which provides for a gradual reduction in teaching in minority languages, in including Russian.

“The authorities, in their overt cynicism, have gone so far as to divide Ukrainian children into grades: Ukrainian-speaking, children of national minorities speaking the official languages ​​of the EU, and children speaking other languages ​​(first of all, of course, we are talking about Russian-speaking children). The law establishes that Russian-speaking students of the 5th grade are entitled to only 20% of the lessons in their native language, and for children speaking the EU languages, the annual amount of study time in their native language is four times more, ”Medvedchuk said in a statement posted on the party’s website, Opposition Platform - For Life.

Medvedchuk recalled that various international organizations, in particular the Venice Commission, made clear recommendations on this matter.

“The Venice Commission recommended revising the provisions of the law, providing for“ differentiated treatment of indigenous languages, languages ​​of national minorities, which are official languages ​​of the EU, and languages ​​of national minorities that are not official languages ​​of the EU, ”the Ukrainian politician emphasized.

However, according to Medvedchuk, the authorities in the person of the ruling party and Zelensky’s administration “adopted another nationalist law that legitimized the division of Ukrainian children into grades and dealt another blow to the rights of Russian-speaking citizens.”

The head of the "Opposition Platform" said that the adoption of this law is the next step aimed at "continuing the criminal policy of discrimination of the Russian language and the Russian-speaking population", which was carried out by the previous administration under the leadership of Petro Poroshenko, and continues the next.

“The adopted law directly violates articles 10, 11, 22, 24, 53 of the Constitution of Ukraine, providing for the right to free use, development of the Russian language in Ukraine, to receive education in one’s native language, and the development of the linguistic identity of national minorities of Ukraine. Therefore, if President Zelensky signs this law, MPs from the Opposition Platform - For Life party will turn to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine to repeal this discriminatory and unconstitutional act, ”Viktor Medvedchuk said in a statement.

A RT source in the Servant of the People party, commenting on this situation, noted that Volodymyr Zelensky and his entourage intend to support the “language policy” of Petro Poroshenko’s administration.

“And this means that citizens of the Southeast will soon be disappointed in the new head of state. Obviously, the Russian language will not receive any rights in Ukraine, and such a policy is supported at the highest level. Zelensky, of course, will publicly promise that no one will oppress ordinary people for communicating in Russian, Hungarian or Polish. But in practice, there will be no loyalty, ”the channel’s interlocutor explained.

In a conversation with RT, the president of the Center for System Analysis and Forecasting Rostislav Ishchenko noted that under Zelensky language policy is postulated in the same way as under Poroshenko.

“Most Ukrainian politicians believe that this is the right course, so Kiev continues to adopt bills of this kind,” said the expert.

Poroshenko touched

The Ukrainian authorities over the past few years have consistently implemented a language policy aimed at the exclusion of Russian and other languages ​​from the country's public life. So, in 2017, Poroshenko signed the law “On Education”, which provided for the transition of the entire learning process to the Ukrainian language. Subsequently, a law was also signed on the exclusive use of the Ukrainian language in all spheres of public life.

  • Member of the public campaign "Choice of Donbass" at the building of Donetsk city administration
  • RIA News
  • © Sergey Averin

Neighboring countries have repeatedly expressed disagreement with such a policy of Kiev. So, Hungary has repeatedly opposed laws that infringe on the rights of national minorities to use their language in educational institutions, government agencies and the media.

Budapest's discontent reached such an extent that in early March 2018, the Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Siyyarto accused Kiev of a “brutal attack” on national minorities.

“The Ukrainian government has set two nationalist goals: one is to prevent minorities from learning their native language, and the other is to prevent them from speaking their native language,” the minister said.

In addition, Budapest vetoes the statements of the alliance on Ukrainian membership, as well as any negotiations on this issue because of the policy of Kiev towards Hungarian language minorities living in the country.

Peter Siyyarto again confirmed this position on October 30th. According to him, the representative of Hungary vetoed a joint statement on Ukraine, which the ambassadors of NATO countries wanted to accept, due to the fact that Kiev refuses to amend the law on the language that infringes on the rights of the Hungarian minority.

“We had no choice but to veto the declaration,” the head of Hungarian diplomacy emphasized.

Neighbors in Eastern Europe will continue to put pressure on Zelensky in the language issue, the RT source in the Voice party is convinced.

“Ukraine declares itself a democratic state. But it all ends with a language question. I understand that the rejection of the law will lead to a wave of criticism from nationalists. But there is also a large category of other people who want to speak, read and communicate in Russian. Is this not their right, which is also enshrined in the constitution? In place of Zelensky, I would postpone this issue until better times, ”the deputy emphasized.

Zelensky's actions

The team of Vladimir Zelensky for a long time refrained from commenting on the language policy of the administration of Petro Poroshenko. After the election, Zelensky’s press service distributed a message stating that the language law would be “carefully analyzed” to ensure that “constitutional rights and interests of all citizens of Ukraine” were respected.

  • Vladimir Zelensky
  • Reuters
  • © Gleb Garanich

However, six months later, the president’s office did not take any action to review the laws on education and the state language.

A RT source in the Batkivshchyna party claims that in the near future Ukrainian media may not remain in Russian.

“In a few years, not a single newspaper or program will be published in Russian, which will not suit most of the country's population. Because of this, many will switch to watching Russian television, which is opposed by the country's leadership, ”said the deputy.

A similar opinion is shared by Sergey Margulis, a lecturer at the Department of International Politics and Foreign Regional Studies at the Institute of Social Sciences of the RANEPA. The expert is convinced that Kiev will continue to pursue the current language policy.

“Criticism of the Ukrainian authorities, limited to comments and expressing concern, is fundamentally unlikely to change the approach of the Zelensky administration to the question of language. His actions fit into the policy of Ukrainization and that general political course that has been going on in Ukraine for several years and is aimed, inter alia, at increasing the role of the Ukrainian language in everyday life, ”the expert concluded.