All news

Candidate for Ukrainian president promises to make Russian second state language

KIEV, March 31, /ITAR-TASS/. Candidate for Ukrainian president Sergei Tigipko, who is a member of the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) with the Party of Regions, has promised to legalize the Russian language as the second state language.

Apart from that, in his election programme he promised to re-grant the legal status to other regional languages.

Other provisions of his programme are to form a cabinet of ministers from among professionals, regardless of their political views, to dismiss all illegal armed groups, to introduce direct elections of governors and hold early parliamentary polls.

As concerns the economic sphere, Tigipko pledged to make Ukraine one of the top ten countries with the most favourable business environment, to work out a plan of reducing Ukraine’s energy and raw materials dependence.

In international politics, he promised to pursue a tough and independent foreign policy, to resume the negotiating process on cooperation with Russia on purely pragmatic basis.