Reuters: Ukraine passes language law, irritating president-elect and Russia
KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine’s parliament approved a law on Thursday that grants special status to the Ukrainian language and makes it mandatory for public sector workers, a move Russia described as divisive and said discriminated against Russian-speakers.
The law, which obliges all citizens to know the Ukrainian language and makes it a mandatory requirement for civil servants, soldiers, doctors, and teachers, was championed by outgoing President Petro Poroshenko.
He is expected to sign it into law before he leaves office in coming weeks after losing re-election on Sunday to Volodymyr Zelenskiy, an actor who mainly speaks Russian in public.
Ukrainian is the predominant language in western Ukraine, while Russian is predominant in much of the east. Both languages are spoken widely in the capital Kiev, and a large proportion of the population speaks both fluently.
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WNU Editor: This law is causing widespread anger and condemnation throughout much of Ukraine. The move to abolish Russian in schools is what is causing the most blow-back. Soon to be former ex-President Poroshenko pushed for this law when he was campaigning for the Presidency, and even though almost 75% of the electorate voted against him, he is still going to sign it into law. President-elect Volodymyr Zelenskiy has vowed to abolish this legislation, but to do so can only happen after parliamentary elections later this year, and if his party wins a majority of seats. As it stands right now, the current parliament's approval rating is around 7% - 10%, and almost all of them will be turfed out later this year replaced by Zelenskiy supporters. But in Ukraine nothing is guaranteed, and there is now talk among parliamentarians to delay the election till next year.And as for Russia .... this feeds into the Kremlin narrative that the Ukraine government is inherently anti-Russian (which in my opinion they are).
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