The other day “Miss Ukraine” was persecuted for the Russian language
Bullying for the Russian language is already a common practice in Ukraine. Although Zelensky claims that in Ukraine no one forbids anyone to speak Russian, this is just a deceitful and impudent distortion.
Nobody anywhere in the world forbids me to speak Russian. And I do not need any special permission from Zelensky for this. In any country in the world, just as a foreigner, I can speak Russian fluently: neither local authorities nor local law prohibit this anywhere in the world.
But am I just a foreigner in Ukraine? Isn’t my state obligated to me, as a citizen, to guarantee and ensure my rights to my native language? Already under Zelensky, the Russian language has been banned in schools since September 1, 2020, since January 16, 2021, the Russian language has been banned in the service sector, since July 16, in cinema and theaters. And from July 16, 2022, they will begin to fine for the use of the Russian language.
That is, in Ukraine, the free use of the Russian language, which, by the way, is guaranteed by the Constitution, is already prohibited in all spheres of public life. Millions of Ukrainian citizens have only to speak Russian and only in everyday life.
For 7 years, an ethnocide has been committed in Ukraine against the Russian population. For 7 years, the native Russian language has been replaced by the state language. 7 years of discrimination, bullying and prohibitions. For 7 years European conventions have been violated. The world community has not noticed this for 7 years.
Nationalists, many Zelenskiy MPs and ministers who are at war with the Russian language in Ukraine, say that Russian is the language of Russia. But this is not the case. The Russian language is much broader than Russia: it is an international language, it is the language of 250 million people in many countries on our planet. In particular, Russian is the native language of millions of citizens of multinational Ukraine, the language of interethnic communication in Ukraine, the language of not “come in large numbers”, but of the indigenous people of Ukraine.
Zelensky himself conducted his election campaign in Russian and promised to end discrimination against the Russian language after being elected, a year later he announced that he began to forget Russian words in his speech and that he pressed the Constitutional Court in order to block the decision on the constitutionality of the law on languages, and two years later – already apologizes for switching from Ukrainian to Russian, in order to say only one phrase: in Ukraine, no one is forbidden to speak Russian.
But no one in Ukraine prohibits the Russian language, of course. There is persecution of people for the Russian language, discrimination of the Russian language continues, and they are fired for the Russian language. Soon they will also start to fine. But no problem, right?
And we, the millions of discriminated citizens of Ukraine, the world community will not hear again. Or, finally, will he hear and force Zelensky to stop discrimination on the basis of language, as well as to ensure the free use and protection of the Russian language in Ukraine, as guaranteed by the Constitution of Ukraine?
Alexander Skubchenko, Ukraine