Head of Front of Changes public initiative Arseniy Yatseniuk is convinced that only Ukrainian can be the state language, while at the same time Russian-speaking citizens should have their rights respected.
“Nobody should have reason to discriminate against Russian-speaking
citizens, but the Ukrainian language will remain the state language,”
the press service of Front of Changes quoted Yatseniuk as saying on
Thursday. At the same time, the issue of Ukrainian remaining the sole
state language is not up for discussion.
He also emphasised that the Constitution and law on languages protects and defines a special status for the Russian language.
Yatseniuk said he does not see any problem in there being
Russian-language radio and TV in Crimea. “I am not concerned with the
language of broadcasting in this case. The information being broadcast
worries me more,” he said.
Yatseniuk claimed that the language issue would quickly disappear
with a change in politics. “This problem could disappear in a year. I
have already been through it in Crimea as economy minister there; I
experienced it myself,” he said.
