Russian should be made an official language in Ukraine

[WiseSage2005]

Mikeaverko, you are wrong to say that Ukraine used to be part of Russia. Kievan Rus was not "Russia". The Russian language didn't even exist until the 1400's. The language of Kievan Rus was Old East Slavonic. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_East_Slavic_language

This language broke up into Russian, Ukrainian and Belarussian by the 1400's. Just like how in Western Europe and Romania, Latin evolved into Spanish, French, Romanian, Italian, Portugese, Rhaeto-Romansch, Catalan, Galician, Occitan, Alsation, Dalmatian etc. Similarly, the ancient language Common Celtic broke up into Irish, Gallic (extinct), Welsh, Cornish, Breton, Manx etc. Ask people in Spain if they feel part of the same nation/country as the French or Italians. They clearly don't. Equally, then, neither is Ukraine a subset of Russia.

70% speaking Russian in Ukraine? Maybe. But that is because of the banning of Ukrainian in schools under the Tsars and Commissars, rather than because of a submissive wish of Ukrainians to speak Russian to please Putin. Ukrainian is gradually recovering from centuries of oppression and in Kiev, polls show just 52% speak Russian only, while the rest are either bilingual or mainly Ukrainian speaking, largely due to migration from the Ukrainophone rural areas.

I have come across a poll saying that in Ukraine generally, 52% say they mainly speak Russian, 34% speak both Russian and Ukrainian equally, and 14% speak mainly Ukrainian. Maybe you 70% is an exaggeration,

Don't enough people speak Russian anyway? Hundreds of millions of people speak Russian throughout the CIS. You should give other languages their space to exist.

[mikeaverko]

Ukrainian wasn't banned under the Communists. Actually, a coercive attempt was made in the late 19 twenties to Ukrainianize Russocentric Donbas.

Kievan Rus was ancient Russia and its language was certainly not modern day canon Ukrainian or the dialect spoken in western Ukraine.

People have their nerve to believe that west Ukrainians have a great right to Kiev over Russians. That mindset is historically ignorant.

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RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY ASSAILS UKRAINE ON LANGUAGE ISSUE. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that Ukraine's decision to hold court proceedings in the Ukrainian language will "infringe on the rights of nearly 20 million ethnic Russians" in the country, ITAR-TASS reported on 6 September. "This means denying a chance to effective juridical protection to ethnic Russians, who make up 40 percent of Ukraine's population," the ministry said in a statement released the same day. "The meaning of legal terms is hard to grasp when they are spoken in a language other than the mother tongue of the one standing trial." The Russian Foreign Ministry called the decision "part of the unsavory campaign regarding the Russian language in Ukraine."

[WiseSage2005]

Originally Posted by mikeaverko

Ukrainian wasn't banned under the Communists. Actually, a coercive attempt was made in the late 19 twenties to Ukrainianize Russocentric Donbas.

Kievan Rus was ancient Russia and its language was certainly not modern day canon Ukrainian or the dialect spoken in western Ukraine.

People have their nerve to believe that west Ukrainians have a great right to Kiev over Russians. That mindset is historically ignorant.

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RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY ASSAILS UKRAINE ON LANGUAGE ISSUE. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that Ukraine's decision to hold court proceedings in the Ukrainian language will "infringe on the rights of nearly 20 million ethnic Russians" in the country, ITAR-TASS reported on 6 September. "This means denying a chance to effective juridical protection to ethnic Russians, who make up 40 percent of Ukraine's population," the ministry said in a statement released the same day. "The meaning of legal terms is hard to grasp when they are spoken in a language other than the mother tongue of the one standing trial." The Russian Foreign Ministry called the decision "part of the unsavory campaign regarding the Russian language in Ukraine."

There are 10 million ethnic-Russians in Ukraine, not 20 million. The Russian Foreign Ministry is obviouslt equating "Russian-speaker" with "Russian". Ask Russian speakers in Lviv are they ethnic Russians and see what response you get.

Here in Ireland, 98% speak English and 2.5% Irish. But we are definitely not English. Same situation.

[mikeaverko]

No it's not as Russians and Ukrainians are much more related unlike the Irish and the British.

[mikeaverko]

I found the below linked article about Ukraine to be rather thought provoking.

Seeing how many seem to have some pre-conceived notions about Ukraine, is it possible to have a civil discussion about this commentary?

http://www.rusjournal.com/antiukraine.html

[Voyager13b]

Mike,

I think you should move to Ukraine, and take the point in stripping them of their national identity in order to make them conform to your will. As it stands, you are losng the battle running it from North America. Maybe if you left your comfortable western environment and moved to the front lines, Yuschenko would capitulate .

You can become the Che Guevara of Russian domination of Ukraine, and generations of children will buy T-shirts with your mug on them.


Voyager