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Ukraine’s education minister favors obligatory knowledge of Russian for state officials

Ukraine’s Minister of Education, Science, Youth Policy and Sport Dmitry Tabachnik believes it is a must for all state officials in the country

KIEV, November 10 (Itar-Tass) —— Ukraine’s Minister of Education, Science, Youth Policy and Sport Dmitry Tabachnik believes it is a must for all state officials in the country to have a good command of the Russian language.

“If you seek a government position, you must fluently speak two languages, Ukrainian and Russian,” he said in an interview with the Obrati Vnimanie (Nota Bene) magazine published on Thursday.

“You want just to do business? Or indulge in arts? No one will force you to learn languages,” he said. “It is nonsense to try to demonstrate such self-evident things as follows: a person who speaks two languages has more advantages than that who speaks only one. And a person who knows three or four languages has still more advantages than the one who speaks two.”

According to Tabachnik, “it is absurd and immoral to reject what has historically formed in this country.”

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