DISINFO: Nationalists outlawed the Russian language in Ukraine
SUMMARY
Nationalists outlawed the Russian language in Ukraine, spoken by the vast majority of people, closed Russian schools, banned Russian music, introduced a single state language and stopped writing instructions for medicines in Russian.
RESPONSE
The article promotes a recurring disinformation narrative about alleged Russophobia in Ukraine. It also claims that there is a cancel-culture trend towards Russian culture and language, as well as discrimination against ethnic Russians living in former USSR republics, currently independent states such as Ukraine, Kazakhstan and others. This claim is made in the context of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine in an attempt to legitimise Moscow's unprovoked agression.
Ukraine passed a law on ensuring the functioning of the Ukrainian language as a state language in 2019, but this law only regulates the use of Ukrainian in the public spheres of life. Russian and other languages of national minorities can be freely used in private communication, religious ceremonies, in publishing, media and education.
Furthermore, Ukraine is a signatory to the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, which guarantees that people in Ukraine have the right: "to use freely and without interference his or her minority language, in private and in public, orally and in writing".
See similar cases about Russian language under attack such as Kazakhstan is a shrinking space for the Russian language; Moldova: Maia Sandu is attempting to forcibly "Romanize" almost all spheres of life and Russian language is banned in Ukrainian regions controlled by the Kyiv junta.