MOSCOW, January 21. /TASS/. The Ukrainian authorities are trying to artificially cause rejection of the Russian language in the country, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a news briefing on Thursday.

She recalled that starting from January 16 Ukrainian became mandatory in all services in accordance with the law on ensuring the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the state language.

Zakharova described the decision as ridiculous.

"There will be a special agecy responsible for monitoring compliance with the decision - the office of the commissioner for the protection of the state language - which will be able not only to issue warnings for not using the state language, but also to levy fines. A repressive body in its own right," she said.

"All this testifies to a climate of rejection and fear in relation to our country and our culture, being imposed on Ukraine. It is part of the Kiev authorities’ official policy, aimed at eliminating multilingualism and a unique multicultural space, which emerged in that country’s territory over centuries," she stressed.

Zakharova urged the European countries to express their attitude to the Ukrainian leadership’s actions, "aimed at ensuring the supremacy of ethnic Ukrainians.".