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Lugansk People’s Republic legislature adopts Russian as the only official language

On March 6, the Donetsk People’s Republic also amended its Constitution, defining Russian language as the official language

LUGANSK, June 3. /TASS/. Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) Parliament adopted a bill Wednesday that defines Russian language as the only official language in the republic. The decision was approved by the lawmakers with one abstained.

The bill amending Article 10 of the LPR Constitution was introduced to the parliament by republic head Leonid Pasechnik. After approval by the People’s Council, the bill must be signed by the head of the Republic.

Under the current Constitution, official languages of the people’s republic are Russian and Ukrainian. At the same time, according to Clause 2 of Article 10, "the official administrative language of the Lugansk People’s Republic is Russian language."

"The state language, used by the citizens everywhere, must play a consolidating role for the population and ensure the country’s integrity," says Pasechnik’s representative to the parliament Nina Galan, as cited by Luganskinformcenter news agency. "Due to historical and cultural traditions, it is the Russian language that plays a defining role in consolidation and cultural development of the people of the LPR."

Galan recalled that the Russian language is one of the six official languages of the United Nations, UNESCO and other international organizations, enjoys the status of the world language and is used in almost every republic of the former USSR.

The representative underscored that "establishment of the status of the Russian language as the only official language of the republic does not mean rejection or derogation of right to use other languages."

"According to Clause 2 of Article 19 of the Constitution, everyone has the right to use their mother tongue, to freely use the language of communication, upbringing, education and creativity," Galan said. "The adoption of the law would facilitate integrational processes between the LPR and the Russian Federation, protection and support of the Russian language as the LPR’s official language, promotion and enrichment of the national spiritual culture."

On March 6, the People’s Council of the Donetsk People’s Republic also amended the Constitution of the DPR, defining Russian language as the official language of the republic. Republic head Denis Pushilin said at the time that "the need for adoption of the amendment was long overdue, because the use of the Ukrainian language as the official one found no practical implementation," since"for the majority of the DPR residents, Russian language is the mother tongue."