ST. PETERSBURG, June 2. /TASS/. Every step the Ukrainian authorities take to restrict the use of the Russian language is killing their own country, the chief of Russia’s federal agency for the CIS affairs, compatriots residing abroad and international humanitarian cooperation Rossotrudnichestvo, Yevgeny Primakov, told TASS on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Wednesday.

"This road leads nowhere. Ukraine is killing itself. They have been trying to bind us hand and foot, to impede the activities of our agency and of the Compatriots’ Rights Protection Fund, which the Foreign Ministry and Rossotrudnichestvo had established. This fund that once worked there is now prohibited," he said about the Ukrainian authorities’ measures to restrict the use of the Russian language in the media and other spheres.

In the meantime, the "intellectual life" and scientific exchanges between the two countries are continuing, Primakov said.

He is certain that Russia should support those Ukrainians who continue to use the Russian language in their work: "To create local non-governmental organizations or support non-governmental organizations in third countries that might work in Ukraine."

"Amid the psychosis where they have driven themselves will the Ukrainian authorities be able to outlaw Polish or Romanian NGOs? Ok, may they try. It will be of great interest to see how they will go about this business," Primakov said.