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KYIV, May 23, 2012 – Ukrainian opposition groups called on their supporters to show up in front of Parliament on Thursday against a bill that may introduce the Russian language as the second state language in Ukraine.
The bill, drafted by President Viktor Yanukovych’s Regions Party, would split the people throughout the country and may destabilize the political situation ahead of October general elections.
“The bill in fact introduces dual state language in Ukraine,” Volodymyr Yavorivskiy, the head of the Culture and Spirituality Committee.
The bill allows introducing a second state language on a given territory if at least 10% of the people living in the area speak that language.
The Ukrainian language is currently the only state language in Ukraine, while the Russian and some other languages are known as official languages that are widely used.
The bill would almost automatically make the Russian language the second state language in Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Odessa, Mykolayiv, Kherson and Chernihiv.
The bill is vehemently opposed by opposition groups amid concerns that it would discourage people from learning the Ukrainian language and that may have devastating consequences for the national identity.
The Ukrainian language is dominant in western and central regions of Ukraine, while the Russian language, following 70 years of Soviet rule, has become the dominant in eastern and southern regions of Ukraine.
The bill, drafted by Serhiy Kivalov and Vadym Kolesnichenko, two Regions Party lawmakers, comes as Moscow has become more assertive and promoting the concept of Russkiy Mir, or Russian World, a zone of countries that use the same language and religion, in this case the Orthodox Christianity.
Russky Mir is supposed to counterweight the growing influence of the West in the region, and especially in Ukraine, which has repeatedly indicated it would rather join the EU than a Russia-led trading bloc.
“The approval of the bill would lead to the split in the society,” prominent Ukrainian scientists and artists, said in a letter released on Wednesday. “The real goal of this bill is ‘Down with the Ukrainian language.”
The Regions Party, which has been losing popularity against the united opposition party, Batkivshchyna, has been seeking ways of energizing its supporters ahead of the October elections.
The Russian language issue, although very controversial, would play well in the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine, potentially providing much needed boost to the governing party.
But the opposition groups have pledged to stop the bill and called on thousands of their supporters to show up in front of Parliament on Thursday.
“If because of the tiredness or distrust nobody shows up tomorrow to defend the [Ukrainian] language, the government will feel total impunity,” Viacheslav Kyrylenko, the leader of the opposition For Ukraine group, wrote in his blog. “But after losing the language, losing the independence is only a matter of time.” (tl/ez)
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