Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has proposed allowing the local authorities to determine the status of national minority languages, including Russian.
For years I have been on a personal crusade to nail down the meaning of all Russian's "little words" - all those monosyllabic words like да (yes, and), что (what, that), как (how), так (so), ну (well) that each have 40 meanings and combine with other little words to give another dozen meanings. Lately I've been working on зато (but, however, on the other hand).
ODESSA - From the outside, the crisis in Ukraine appears to be drawn along ethnic and linguistic lines - between Russian-speakers who identify with Russia and Ukrainian-speakers who identify with Ukraine. But it's not so simple.
On April 11, in the course of his visit to Donetsk, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk declared that a referendum could be held about the status of Russian. Negotiations are continuing between members of the parliamentary majority and Party of Regions MPs about granting Russian official status in a number of oblasts. On April 23, Donetsk Oblast Governor Serhiy Taruta again called for a referendum on this issue at a regional meeting.
In a move aimed at de-escalating tensions in the country, Ukraine’s parliament has adopted a so-called Memorandum of Peace and Accord. It enshrines the rights of national languages in areas densely populated by ethnic minorities – such as Russians – while establishing Ukrainian as the state language.
Ukraine's National Guard said on May 17 that a group of its soldiers had gone over to the side of the Donetsk People's Republic on Friday, and that this was one of the reasons for a decision to redeploy the local unit of the Guard.
"Ukrainian government remains committed to the idea of decentralization of power and is ready to ensure a special status for Russian and languages of national minorities", Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has said.
Seven European military observers have landed in Berlin, after pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine released them from captivity. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) observer team landed in Berlin on the evening on May 3. German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen said she was "filled with great relief" that the men had "landed here safe and well."
Ukraine has proposed that Russia grant the official status to the Ukrainian language, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has said.
The official language in Ukraine should be protected, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has said.
Verkhovna Rada Speaker Volodymyr Rybak has said that the issue of the status of the Russian language should be carefully studied by experts, including at the level of the Constitutional Assembly.
In a country long dominated by the Russian language, Ukrainians have struggled to defend their native tongue for centuries. But two decades of independence and official status doesn't mean the fight is over, with Russian often gaining the upper hand.
A state program for the development of the Ukrainian language will be approved soon, and the 2013 national budget will foresee funding for it, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has said.
Lviv regional council has declared the law "On the principles of state language policy" invalid on the territory of the region.
STRASBOURG – A well-known Russian writer Boris Akunin (Grigory Chkhartishvili), who visited the Ukrainian cities of Lviv and Sevastopol recently, has said that these cities look like they belong to different countries, and added that it was abnormal for people in one country " not being eager to" speak Ukrainian.
ODESA – The law on the principles of the state language policy will not be cancelled, but could be amended, Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov has said in Odesa.
Romanian has been declared a regional language in the Village of Bila Tserkva (Biserica Alba in Romanian) in Rakhiv district of Zakarpattia region. The language will be used in office work and administrative documents.
There should be no discussions in Kyiv regarding giving the Russian language a regional status, Head of Kyiv City State Administration Oleksandr Popov has reported.
Dnipropetrovsk City Council deputies at a session on Wednesday voted for the implementation of the provisions of the law on the principles of state language policy in Dnipropetrovsk.
Mykolaiv Regional Council has decided to assign Russian the status of a regional language in the region.