KIEV, April 24./Itar-Tass/.Insisting on recognition of Russian as the second official language in Ukraine is the unchanged position of the Party of Regions, a parliament member and the secretary of the party's political board, Boris Kolesnikov, said on Thursday.

"The position of the Party of Regions with regard to the Russian language has not been changed since 2003 we insist on its official status," he said. The matter is in the fact that Russian-speaking citizens account for at least 40% of the population in Ukraine. Therefore, their interests must be protected in three main spheres education, media and business communication, Kolesnikov notes.

"For example, universities are maintained by all Ukrainian taxpayers. Some universities have the status of national, but teach only in Ukrainian. It is violation of Russian-speaking citizens' rights, isn't? Thus, our voters are absolutely right to demand the official status for the Russian language," he said.

As was reported earlier, the regionals' leader in the parliament, Oleksandr Yefremov, said on Thursday that deputies from the party would not participate in voting in the parliament until their demands and demands of protesters in the country's eastern regions were met.

People in Ukraine's eastern regions demand to recognize the Russian language as official and hold referendums to take important decisions, Yefremov said. Until the issues were settled, the group of the Party of Regions would not vote, he stated.