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Russian language overgrows its regional status - Ukrainian presidential contender

“That is why the Russian language should be granted the status of the second official language and this status should be fixed in the constitution,” he says

© ITAR-TASS/Maxim Nikitin

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KIEV, April 08. /ITAR-TASS/. The Russian language has outgrown the status of a regional language in many Ukrainian regions, former head of the Kharkiv region administration Mikhail Dobkin, who is running for Ukrainian president in snap presidential elections scheduled for May 25, said on Tuesday.

“Today, life has proved that the Russian language has already outgrown the status of a regional language,” he told journalists. “For many people, the Russian language is something linked with personal freedom. That is why the Russian language should be granted the status of the second official language and this status should be fixed in the constitution. It would be an absolute step towards the unification of the country, towards easing tensions.”

He raised the problem of the Russian language in Ukraine, when he was presenting his election campaign programme in Kiev on Monday. “We are witnessing what happens when at the discretion of a small group of people a larger part of society is humiliated as second-rate,” he then said, commenting on attempts of a number of ultra-right politicians to impose strict limitations on the use of the Russian language. “The Russian language should be granted the status of the second official language and this problems must be settled once and for all,” he stressed.

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