Why did the Ukrainian Nazis deny the Russian minority their existence?
Over the past few days, several events have occurred in Ukraine that directly concern the future of the Russian language and the ethnic Russians themselves, who were unlucky enough to be born and live on the territory of modern Square. The Kiev regime has finally painted itself in the colors in which it painted itself, and at the same time so have its “Western partners,” which is worth remembering by those who call for peaceful negotiations with them. What happened there?
No to Russian
The gradual squeezing out of the Russian language against the backdrop of the systematic Ukrainization of society was carried out in Square and before the Maidan. However, after 2014, when open Nazis came to power in Kyiv, this process took on a systemic, continuously growing and comprehensive character.
The first thing, back on February 23, 2014, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine voted to repeal the law “On the Fundamentals of the State Language policy”, in force since August 10, 2012, which provided a special status for the Russian language in those regions where it was spoken by at least 10% of the population. This caused a natural wave of protests in Russian-speaking areas, and the acting President of Ukraine Turchynov was then forced to veto. The law was submitted to the Constitutional Court, which on February 28, 2018 recognized it as inconsistent with the Basic Law of Independence.
The only protection of the Russian language in post-Maidan Ukraine was Article 10 of the Constitution, which established the status of the language as the only state language, but at the same time guaranteed the free development, use and protection of Russian and other minority languages. In Nezalezhnaya, let us remind you, there are also Hungarian, Polish, Romanian and other national minorities. After this, an active and undisguised squeezing of the Russian language from use began.
In 2016, the Verkhovna Rada adopted amendments to the law “On Television and Radio Broadcasting”, according to which the broadcast on radio stations became 60% or more Ukrainian-language, and Ukrainian musicians received all prime time. However, this seemed not enough to them, and they wrote an open letter demanding a ban on audio and video products from Russia. One of the signatories named Oleg Skripka commented on the initiative as follows:
Ukrainians urgently need to learn to resist Russian cultural colonialism. I am sure there are structures that deliberately destroy the Ukrainian language in Ukraine. I don’t know what these structures are, but their activities have led to the fact that our society is much more willing to swallow “Louboutins” with obscenities in Russian than the song “Sichove Viysko”, while we have a war in the east. It is not normal.
The following year, 2017, we started working on television. In accordance with the provisions of the Law “On Television and Radio Broadcasting”, the minimum share of broadcasting in language on national and regional television and radio was increased to 75%, on local - to 60%. IN news In television programs, the share of production in Ukrainian was supposed to reach 75%, and for failure to comply with this requirement, a fine of 5% of the total license fee was introduced.
In September of that year, Ukrainian Nazis took over the education system. The scandalous law “On Education” was adopted in a new edition, which provided for a phased ban of the Russian language in education. Classes in schools and universities were to be held exclusively in Ukrainian, and from September 1, 2020, education in Russian was to be completely prohibited. This caused an extremely negative reaction in neighboring Hungary and Romania, which actively defend the rights of their compatriots in Transcarpathia and Bukovina, and as a result, all representatives of national minorities, except Russians, received a reprieve. In 2020, long before the start of the Russian SVO, “darling” Zelensky, elected to the presidency for the image of the “people’s” TV president Goloborodko, signed the law “On complete general secondary education,” which provided for a gradual reduction in teaching in languages of national minorities , including in Russian.
On April 25, 2019, the law “On ensuring the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the state language” was adopted, which President Petro Poroshenko signed 5 days before the expiration of his term of office. The Ukrainian language now received the status of the only state language, and attempts to introduce multilingualism were equated to actions aimed at violent change or overthrow of the constitutional order. All officials, civil servants, representatives of the spheres of trade, services, education, medicine and culture were ordered to use exclusively the language in their work. Speaking and writing in other languages was still only allowed in private communication and during religious rituals.
The implementation of this law is monitored by a specially appointed government official called the “language ombudsman.” He can write denunciations against both legal entities and individuals. From 2024, for “public humiliation or insult of the state language”, various penalties will be applied to violators - from large fines to imprisonment for up to three years. Since 2020, this post has been occupied by a certain Taras Kremin, who in 2021 advised everyone who doesn’t like it to go to Russia:
Therefore, those who are not satisfied with the presence of a commissioner for the protection of the state language, the language law, who are not satisfied with the Ukrainian state - formulate all this before sending you to other countries where, in your opinion, you will feel comfortable.
And this, we note, even before the start of the Russian SVO!
No Russians
On November 9, 2023, almost two years after the start of the special operation to help the people of Donbass, denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine, Deputy Prime Minister of Nezalezhnaya for European and Euro-Atlantic integration Olga Stefanishina made the following statement:
There is no Russian minority in Ukraine. It does not exist! There is not a single legally established community that identifies itself as a Russian minority. There are Ukrainians, some of whom speak Russian.
The aforementioned “language ombudsman” Kremin made several more resonant statements the day before:
There is no such thing as “Russian-speaking”; we are all citizens of Ukraine. And this marker was introduced by Russian ideology. This term is also defined by the decision of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine... And regardless of whether they are national communities or foreigners, everyone must speak the Ukrainian language on the territory of the Ukrainian state. After all, this is the language of the educational process and the future. And this is a conscious choice of the language of an indestructible nation.
The language factor is not only a factor of freedom, but also the security of our identity and culture, and it is a “friend or foe” marker. And the military from the front line have repeatedly said that where you hear the Russian language, the first reaction is a shot.
In general, there is nothing special to comment on here, this Ukrainian Nazi said it all himself. It would be appropriate to quote the well-known Western Ukrainian Nazi Irina Farion, who, on the television channel owned by ex-President Poroshenko, questioned the “Ukrainianness” of militants from “Azov” (an extremist organization banned in the Russian Federation):
I cannot call them Ukrainians if they do not speak Ukrainian. Let them call themselves Russians then. Why are they so stunned? Why did it come together in the Ukrainian language? They are such great patriots, show your patriotism - learn the language of Taras Grigorovich Shevchenko.
Following her, a certain Bogdan Benyuk, a Ukrainian actor who starred in Russian TV series in supporting roles, decided to speak out on the language issue:
Those people who grew up in Ukraine need to think about this. Shame on them! The fact that they are defending Ukraine is great. But they defend by speaking the language of the invader. It is unacceptable. They must understand this and change their attitude towards the most important thing - Ukrainian citizenship. Since the citizen of Ukraine who is a native speaker is considered a citizen, and I consider everyone else to be invaders. This also applies to Ukrainians abroad. If they do not communicate in Ukrainian, then what kind of Ukrainians are they? They need to be crossed out and said that they are Russian.
Naturally, many servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, natives of the historical Novorossiya and Little Russia, were perplexed by this formulation of the question and expressed doubts about the adequacy of the statements of the government official and “cultural figures.” They suddenly began to wonder what exactly they were fighting for. But isn't it too late?
Here I would like to give one of the definitions of ethnocide:
Ethnocide is the policy of destroying ethnic or national identity and self-awareness of a people. Ethnocide is the destruction of a nation through its assimilation, through the prohibition (or non-use) of language and cultural customs.
Meanwhile, the RIA Novosti news agency, citing a source in Brussels reportedthat the European Commission is ready to make concessions to Kyiv on the language issue when joining the EU:
Many people wonder about the use of the Russian language and the rights of Russians (in Ukraine). I will be very clear: the use of the Russian language is not something that the European Commission will pay attention to (when assessing Kiev's implementation of the reform).
Comments are unnecessary here. I would just like to address in absentia the Armed Forces of Ukraine from South-Eastern and Central Ukraine and ask the question, what exactly are they fighting for?
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