The exile of the Russians continues: what should Russia do?
The ring of unfriendly neighbors shrinks around our country. Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Kazakhstan, which joined them, are actively using the language issue for political pressure on Russia. Karlis Шadurskis, Minister of Education of Latvia, proclaims the importance of the language of communication for the state:
The problem is that in these countries, which were once part of the vast Soviet Union, there is a large Russian-speaking diaspora. For example, in small Latvia, Russian speakers make up, according to various estimates, from 34 to 40% of the population of the whole country, and these people are actively protesting against language assimilation. In most schools for national minorities, as Russians are called in Latvia, teaching takes place in Russian. The attack on the Russian language began in 2004, when only 40% of subjects were allowed to teach Russian in Latvian high schools. The initiator of this bilingual school reform was the very Karlis Shadurskis.
Now, educational reform inspired by him has moved in the oppression of the Russian language to a new level. According to the new rules, from grades 1 to 6, teaching will be conducted in Latvian and Russian, from 7 to 9 - 80% of the study time will be held using the Latvian language, and in the upper grades exclusively the state language of Latvia will be used during training. Since 2022, only Latvian speech can be heard in all Latvian schools. The Latvian ex-parliamentarian Miroslav Mitrofanov hints that fines may be applied for communication in Russian at schools even during breaks. The Russian-speaking diaspora of two-million Latvia against discriminatory innovations. Riga Mayor Neil Ushakov expresses the general opinion on language reform in this way:
In small Estonia, Russian speakers make up about 30% of the population. In 2015, the Estonian authorities provoked a protest from the Russian Foreign Ministry by banning a number of gymnasiums from teaching in Russian. In Lithuania, the percentage of the Russian-speaking population is small and is approaching 5. Every year, less and less citizens of this country use Russian language in office work and everyday life.
Sadly, friendly Kazakhstan also got into this company, which began the process of switching the alphabet from Cyrillic to Latin. President Nazarbayev called on the government and parliament to switch to using the Kazakh state language.
In the formerly fraternal Ukraine, the Law on Education was adopted last year. Forbidden teaching from grades 5 to 12 in any language other than Ukrainian. The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine plans to continue the forced Ukrainization of all spheres of the country's life, punishing those who disagree with fines and imprisonment.
Summarizing, we can conclude that the rejection of the use of the Russian language by the former republics of the USSR is a kind of political provocation that will have long-term and extremely negative consequences for these countries. Russia can reverse this trend only through the formation of its own competitive economic project, around which it will be comfortable to cooperate with neighboring countries and it is advantageous to build a friendly policy towards our country and the Russian language.
Language is an element uniting a nation, and only a united nation can successfully develop
The problem is that in these countries, which were once part of the vast Soviet Union, there is a large Russian-speaking diaspora. For example, in small Latvia, Russian speakers make up, according to various estimates, from 34 to 40% of the population of the whole country, and these people are actively protesting against language assimilation. In most schools for national minorities, as Russians are called in Latvia, teaching takes place in Russian. The attack on the Russian language began in 2004, when only 40% of subjects were allowed to teach Russian in Latvian high schools. The initiator of this bilingual school reform was the very Karlis Shadurskis.
Now, educational reform inspired by him has moved in the oppression of the Russian language to a new level. According to the new rules, from grades 1 to 6, teaching will be conducted in Latvian and Russian, from 7 to 9 - 80% of the study time will be held using the Latvian language, and in the upper grades exclusively the state language of Latvia will be used during training. Since 2022, only Latvian speech can be heard in all Latvian schools. The Latvian ex-parliamentarian Miroslav Mitrofanov hints that fines may be applied for communication in Russian at schools even during breaks. The Russian-speaking diaspora of two-million Latvia against discriminatory innovations. Riga Mayor Neil Ushakov expresses the general opinion on language reform in this way:
A huge mistake of the Latvian government. One can only perceive this as political provocation that harms both the quality of education and the stability of the country
In small Estonia, Russian speakers make up about 30% of the population. In 2015, the Estonian authorities provoked a protest from the Russian Foreign Ministry by banning a number of gymnasiums from teaching in Russian. In Lithuania, the percentage of the Russian-speaking population is small and is approaching 5. Every year, less and less citizens of this country use Russian language in office work and everyday life.
Sadly, friendly Kazakhstan also got into this company, which began the process of switching the alphabet from Cyrillic to Latin. President Nazarbayev called on the government and parliament to switch to using the Kazakh state language.
In the formerly fraternal Ukraine, the Law on Education was adopted last year. Forbidden teaching from grades 5 to 12 in any language other than Ukrainian. The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine plans to continue the forced Ukrainization of all spheres of the country's life, punishing those who disagree with fines and imprisonment.
Summarizing, we can conclude that the rejection of the use of the Russian language by the former republics of the USSR is a kind of political provocation that will have long-term and extremely negative consequences for these countries. Russia can reverse this trend only through the formation of its own competitive economic project, around which it will be comfortable to cooperate with neighboring countries and it is advantageous to build a friendly policy towards our country and the Russian language.
- Sergey Marzhetsky
- https://sputniknews.lt/
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