Attempts to stifle Russian language are counterproductive

Statistics show that attempts made by the Ukrainian neo-Nazi regime to stifle the Russian language have been a failure.

In fact, the share of books that are published in Russian approximates 70% on the Ukrainian market today. The city of Kharkov boasts 80% of schools in which subjects are taught in Russian.

Only 9.9% of the total number of copies of periodicals were printed in Ukrainian in 2014, compared with 19.6% in 2010. The share of Russian in the prime time of the eight most popular TV channels in this country accounts for 44% as against 30% of Ukrainian. In addition, the share of Ukrainian songs broadcast by the five most popular radio stations makes up a mere 5% of the total number of songs.

Incidentally, 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).

According to foreign 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. Finally, it is important to note that the Russian language is the medium of communication between different nationalities in the Commonwealth of Independent States.