Most citizens of Ukraine think Russian should be the second national language

By Svetlana Sytina
The Ukrainian Times

Data from the Kiev-based International Institute of Sociology show that 71% of citizens of Ukraine think Russian should have status of the second national language in this country. In everyday life Ukrainians are mainly speaking Russian or the so-called “surzhik” (Russian words and phrases adopted into the Ukrainian dialect).

For instance, stroll about one of the Kiev parks filled with picnickers on weekends or holidays and you could hear Russian speech everywhere.

According to Western observers, after 1991 Ukrainian leaders made the profound mistake of imposing Ukrainian ethnicity upon a large Russian population. This was in stark contrast to Byelorussia and Kazakhstan, where the government made Russian the second official language.

They think the West should encourage Kiev to establish a federation, ideally, or at least a confederation. Citizens of Ukraine would benefit from living in a federated or confederated state. In the south and east portions of Ukraine (also known as Novorossia) the arrangement could provide a home base for Russian self-expression, which is currently stifled by the Ukrainian neo-Nazi junta.