According to Shapovalov, this law has no practical meaning, since most of the Crimean Tatars, Karaites and Krymchaks live in Russia.
He also added that this law is a declaration directed against Russia, against the Russians, and it can also be called an element of the information war against Russia.
“This law is a gross act of violation of the rights of the Russian population of Ukraine.
It should be emphasized that Russians have been living on the territory of the present state of Ukraine for many centuries and, moreover, on a part of the territory it is ethnic Russians who make up the majority of the population.
We are talking, first of all, about those areas that, during the period of the Russian Empire, were still called Novorossiya.
In this sense, of course, this legal act is discriminatory against a significant part of the population of Ukraine, ”the specialist noted.
In addition, according to the expert, this law should be the subject of consideration not only of the Russian state, but also of international structures that are engaged in human rights activities.
Shapovalov also noted that the law is directed, for example, against the Hungarian community, as well as against the Rusyns community who live on the territory of Ukraine and identify themselves as a separate ethnic group.
Earlier, the Rada, on the initiative of Zelensky, adopted the law "On the Indigenous Peoples of Ukraine"; Russians are not included in this list.