Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) Alexei Danilov said that the language issue is of fundamental importance for the country and ruled out the possibility that Russian will be considered the second state.
“The issue of language is a very important, fundamental issue for the state. We cannot have any second, Russian, not because it does not need to be studied, it does not need to be known. If we are talking about Ukraine, it should be only the state Ukrainian language, ”the NSDC secretary emphasized in an interview with Ukrainian Truth.
At the same time, Danilov does not deny that there should be a second language in Ukraine - only not Russian, but English.
- Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) Alexey Danilov
- © danilov.oleksiy
“Should there be a second language in Ukraine? Of course it should be. But it should be English, which should be studied starting from kindergarten, ”the official said, adding that knowledge of English is a“ must-have ”for Ukrainians if they want to be in a civilized world.
According to Denis Denisov, director of the Institute for Peacekeeping Initiatives and Conflictology, commenting on the statement of the secretary of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council in an interview with RT, the situation in the country is absurd: the authorities declare their desire for democracy, but in practice the population does not even have the opportunity to choose which language to speak and learn.
“It is no secret that almost half of the Ukrainian population continues to use the Russian language, but the authorities refuse it any status. This is a serious violation of the rights of millions of citizens. And, most interestingly, many politicians speak in Russian, advocating for its ousting from Ukrainian life, ”said the expert.
This tactic has a definite goal, I am sure Vladimir Zharikhin, deputy director of the Institute of CIS Countries.
“By literally imposing the Ukrainian language as the only language, the authorities want to separate the Russian-speaking Ukraine from Russia. Ukrainian politicians believe that as long as the language is common, the cultural and political connection will remain, therefore, by forcing Ukrainians to study the Ukrainian language, they hope to break this connection, ”the expert explained in a comment to RT.
Judicial matter
Statement by the NSDC Secretarycompliance with the law "On ensuring the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the state" of the Ukrainian constitution. The plenary session of the Constitutional Court is scheduled for July 7.
A corresponding submission was submitted in 2019 by a group of 51 deputies of the Verkhovna Rada. The authors of the lawsuit insist that the earlier adopted law contradicts several articles of the Constitution. For example, the 10th article of the basic law of Ukraine guarantees "free development, use and protection of Russian and other languages of national minorities."
The 11th article of the basic law of Ukraine states the obligation of the state to promote the development of the Ukrainian nation, which, among other things, implies the development of ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious identities of all indigenous peoples and national minorities of Ukraine.
- Reuters
- © Valentyn Ogirenko
In addition, the Constitution states that all citizens of the country have equal rights and are equal before the law, and that the adoption of new laws should not narrow the content and scope of the rights and freedoms existing in the country.
Based on these provisions of the Constitution, the authors of the lawsuit conclude that the law on the status of the Ukrainian language adopted in 2019 is unconstitutional, and also discriminates against Russian-speaking citizens of the country and creates an atmosphere of intolerance.
Also, the authors of the submission note that the law was adopted in violation of the constitutional procedure, which jeopardizes the principle of legal certainty, which requires clarity and certainty of the legal status of legal entities.
Recall that the law “On ensuring the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the state language” was adopted by the Rada in April 2019, at the height of the presidential campaign in Ukraine.
The then president of the country Petro Poroshenko made his slogan “Army! Tongue! Faith! ”, Thus showing his commitment to the policy of ousting the Russian language from the public sphere and replacing it with the Ukrainian“ language ”.
True, this rhetoric did not help Poroshenko to be re-elected for a second term; the politician signed the law on the state language after he lost in the second round of elections.
The document entered into force on July 16, 2019. It provides for the use of the state language in government bodies, local self-government and other public spheres of public life. Violation of these rules will be punishable by fines - this rule will come into effect three years after the entry into force of the law.
The law obliges civil servants of all levels, judges, law enforcement officials, contract servicemen, education and healthcare workers, as well as other officials to be fluent in the Ukrainian language and use it while performing professional duties.
In addition, all cultural events should be held in the Ukrainian language, except when the use of other languages is justified by the creative intent.
All films produced in Ukraine should also be released in Ukrainian, the permissible percentage of replicas in other languages does not exceed 10%, in this case Ukrainian subtitles should be used.
The law also increased quotas for the use of the Ukrainian language on television and radio, the share of broadcasting in the state language should be at least 90% of the duration of the broadcast of the central television channels. For local television and radio companies this figure should not be lower than 80%. The law also provides for an obligation for publishers to publish in Ukrainian at least 50% of all books they publish during the year.
- Reuters
- © Maxim Shemetov
According to Vladimir Zharikhin, there is every legal reason for the law "On ensuring the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the state language" to be recognized as unconstitutional. However, it is not necessary to rely on the COP to make such a decision, the expert said.
“The Constitutional Court will not repeal this law. The court obeyed the current authorities, the reason is this, ”Zharikhin explained.
A similar point of view is shared by Denis Denisov.
“There are legal prerequisites for repealing this law, since it significantly limits the use of languages of national minorities, including Russian. This law even earlier incurred criticism of the Venice Commission - a very authoritative body. However, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine does not have full independence, for political reasons, it most likely recognizes the language law as constitutional, ”the expert explained.
Civilization gap
The adoption of the law "On ensuring the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the state language" was a serious blow to the rights of the Russian-speaking population and a direct continuation of the course taken by the Ukrainian authorities after the 2014 coup, experts say.
It should be noted that since 2012, the Law on the Fundamentals of the State Language Policy has been in force in Ukraine, according to which national minorities had the right to use other languages in the public sphere. Such a right was granted to those regions in which the share of residents for whom the specified language was not their native language exceeded 10%.
- Petro Poroshenko
- Reuters
- © Gleb Garanich
Even after the Euromaidan, the new authorities were not able to abolish this rule - although the Rada voted to repeal the law, then holding the post of acting President Alexander Turchinov did not support this decision for fear of mass protests.
However, in 2017, the Law on Education was adopted, which actually imposed a ban on teaching in Russian and the languages of other national minorities. Subsequently, the country's authorities also introduced language quotas for the media.
Having won the 2019 presidential election, Vladimir Zelensky continued the course of his predecessor. In March 2020, the politician signed the law "On Complete General Secondary Education", which aims to gradually reduce the teaching of subjects in languages of national minorities, including Russian.
The authorities are not even stopped by the fact that such a policy negatively affects the rating of the current president in the Russian-speaking regions of Ukraine, experts say.
“Zelensky’s rating in predominantly Russian-speaking regions is declining due to such steps. However, the Ukrainian authorities are aimed at ensuring that future generations of Ukrainians really abandon the Russian language, this is the purpose of this course, ”said Vladimir Zharikhin.
A similar opinion is shared by Denis Denisov. According to the expert, now a trend is developing in Ukraine, which became more active in 1991-1992.
“Today, the Russian language is being squeezed out of all spheres of life of Ukrainian society. If this policy is continued, the scope of the Russian language will be narrowed. The Ukrainian government is afraid of the Russian language, since it is an important unifying factor of Ukrainians and Russians as well as religion and a common history. And the struggle with the Russian language is part of the struggle aimed at tearing Ukraine away from Russia in the civilization space, ”the expert summed up.