Most commentaries on Belarus and Ukraine suggest that the relatively large Russian-speaking populations in these two countries are a threat to their survival because they make it easier for Moscow to manipulate the domestic situation of the two and that the growth of Belarusian and Ukrainian speakers thus benefits these countries and harms Russia.
Ukrainian vs. Russian Language
OP-ED
Paul Goble: Russian-speaking Belarusians and Ukrainians threaten Putin’s ‘Russian world’ and Russia itself
Belarus opposition supporters carry crosses and national flags as they march to a grave site of mass Stalin-era executions in Kuropaty on the outskirts of Minsk, on Nov. 2, 2014.
