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Suppressing Russian language in Ukraine to deepen divisions — Russian envoy to UN

The envoy doubted as to the initiative's success adding that the Russian-speaking population is hardly a minority in Ukraine

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UNITED NATIONS, July 16. /TASS/. Restrictive measures imposed on the Russian language in Ukraine are threatening to exacerbate the social divisions in this country, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya told the UN Security Council meeting dedicated to Ukraine’s adoption of the state language law.

"Restrictive and punitive measures regarding the Russian language in this country are fraught with at least deeper divisions and social struggles," the diplomat underlined.

He pointed out that the "Maidan authorities" in Kiev are trying to "cover" their actions in this regard by saying that these are assertedly standard measures aimed at supporting the state language as opposed to the languages of national minorities. The envoy recalled that the Russian-speaking Ukrainians are considered to be among them.

"It seems to be logical, but any independent expert on Ukraine will confirm that this plan is unlikely to be successful in this country. Russian-speaking Ukrainian citizens are not a national minority even in the most common sense of this expression," he clarified.

"Even the most hard core Maidan propagandist have to concede that Russian is the native language of at least the quarter of Ukrainians," he concluded.

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