MOSCOW, January 18. /TASS/. The Ukrainian authorities pursue the policy of forced Ukrainization of the country, violating their commitments to protect human rights, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a note on Saturday.
On January 16, Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada (parliament) adopted the bill ‘On secondary education’, which highlighted that despite the recommendations of the Council of Europe's Venice Commission to ensure the required balance in the language field and the promises of Kiev’s authorities to follow them, the Russian language still experiences double discrimination in the country, the ministry said. "The children of Ukrainian-speaking citizens and representatives of indigenous nations, to which Crimean Tatars, Karaites and Krymchaks belong in Ukraine, will still have an opportunity to receive education in the mother tongue in grades 1-11 after the adopted document is enforced. Meanwhile, the minorities speaking the languages of the European Union will receive education in the mother tongue until grade 5 with a gradual increase in the time of Ukrainian language teaching - from 20% to 60% by grade 9," the ministry noted. "Russian-speaking children will have the right to receive education in the mother tongue until grade 5, after which the state (Ukrainian) language teaching should amount to at least 80%," it added.
Moreover, the country’s authorities have not conducted consultations with representatives of the peoples living in Ukraine despite the findings of the Venice Commission. "Consequently, the official Kiev still keeps the track of forced Ukrainization, assimilation of non-Ukrainian-speaking population violating the country’s Constitution and obligations in the field of human rights and national minorities protection," the note said.
The ministry urged international human rights institutions of the UN, OSCE and the Council of Europe "to provide an adequate estimation of the actions of Ukraine’s authorities.".