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Ukrainization orUkrainisation (Ukrainian:Українізація[ʊkrɐjin⁽ʲ⁾iˈzɑts⁽ʲ⁾ijɐ]) is a policy or practice of increasing the usage and facilitating the development of theUkrainian language and promoting other elements ofUkrainian culture in various spheres of public life such aseducation,publishing,government, andreligion. The term is also used to describe a process by which non-Ukrainians orRussian-speaking Ukrainians are assimilated to Ukrainian culture and language, either by individual choices or forcibly, as a result of social processes or policies.[citation needed]
In Western historiography,Ukrainization refers to a policy and resulting process of forcing ethnic minorities living on Ukrainian territories to abandon their ethnic identity by means of the enforced assimilation of Ukrainian culture and identity.
From the second half of the 15th century through the 16th century, when present-day Ukraine and Belarus were part of theGrand Duchy of Lithuania, theRenaissance had a major impact on shifting culture, art and literature away from Byzantine Christiantheocentrism as expressed inChurch Slavonic, towardshumanistanthropocentrism, which in writing was increasingly expressed by taking the vernacular language of the common people as the basis of texts.[1] New literary genres developed that were closer to secular topics, such as poetry, polemical literature, and scientific literature, while Church Slavonic works of previous times were translated into what became known asRuthenian, Chancery Slavonic, or Old Ukrainian (also called проста моваprosta mova or "simple language" since the 14th century).[2] The vernacular Ruthenian "business speech" (Ukrainian:ділове мовлення,romanized: dilove movlennya) of the 16th century would spread to most other domains of everyday communication in the 17th century, with an influx of words, expressions and stylefrom Polish and other European languages, while the usage of Church Slavonic became more restricted to the affairs of religion, the church, hagiography, and some forms of art and science.[3] The 17th century witnessed thestandardisation of the Ruthenian language that would later split intomodern Ukrainian andBelarusian.[4]
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The strongRussification of Ukraine eliminated the Ukrainian language from state institutions, schools, and all spheres of social activity of the people, which limited its functioning and created extremely unfavorable conditions for its development. During the years of theUkrainian People's Republic, the Ukrainian press was restored, books were printed in Ukrainian, and teaching was carried out in schools founded by theUkrainian National Academy of Sciences.[citation needed]
Following theRussian Revolution of 1917, theRussian Empire had dissolved, and the Ukrainians intensified their struggle for an independent Ukrainian state. In the chaos ofWorld War I and revolutionary changes, a nascent Ukrainian state emerged but, initially, the state's very survival was not ensured. As theCentral Rada, the governing body, was trying to assert the control over Ukraine amid the foreign powers and internal struggle, only a limited cultural development could take place. However, for the first time in the modern history, Ukraine had a government of its own and the Ukrainian language gained usage in state affairs.[citation needed]
As the Rada was eventually overthrown in a German-backed coup (April 29, 1918), the rule of aHetmanate led byPavlo Skoropadskyi was established. While the stability of the government was only relative and Skoropadsky himself, as a former officer of the tsarist army, spoke Russian rather than Ukrainian, the Hetmanate managed to start an impressive Ukrainian cultural and education program, printed millions ofUkrainian-language textbooks, and established many Ukrainian schools, two universities, and aUkrainian Academy of Sciences.[citation needed] The latter established a Committee on Orthography and Terminology, which initiated a scholarly and methodological research program into Ukrainian terminology.[5][better source needed]
The Hetmanate's rule ended with the German evacuation and was replaced by theDirectorate government ofSymon Petlura in the wake of Ukraine's defeat against the Polish during thePolish–Ukrainian war. Ukraine was embroiled in war, with factions includingNestor Makhno's anarcho-communistInsurgent Army besides the Polish backed Petlura's government. Following Skoropadsky's surrender toJózef Piłsudski in the Treaty of Warsaw, Petlura was installed as the leader of the Ukrainian People's Republic in order to participate in the invasion of Soviet-occupied Ukraine, where theUkrainian SSR was created. It was at various times also the scene of fighting ofWhite andGreen armies, as well as armed bands that often were not backed by any political ideology (to which some add the previous, in particular 'Green' units).[citation needed]
At first, theBolshevik authorities were skeptical about the revival and independence of the non-Russian nations (e.g. Finland, Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine etc.) after the collapse of theRussian Empire. However, after they noticed that the indigenous peoples of the former Russian Empire had a rather negative view of becoming a part of a new Russian state, the Soviet government started anindigenization policy, which had an influence on all non-Russian peoples of theUSSR.[7] The purpose of this policy was to expand the communist party network on the non-Russian lands with the involvement of the indigenous population. As a result, this also caused a short period of Ukrainization, until a reversal happened in the early 1930s.[8]
AsBolshevik rule took hold in Ukraine, the early Soviet government had its own reasons to encourage the national movements of the formerRussian Empire. While trying to ascertain and consolidate its power, the Bolshevik government was by far more concerned about political oppositions connected to the pre-revolutionary order than about the national movements inside the former empire. The reversal of the assimilationist policies of theRussian Empire was potentially done to help to improve the image of theSoviet government and boost its popularity among the common people.[citation needed]
Until the early-1930s, Ukrainian culture enjoyed a widespread revival due to Bolshevik policies known as the policy ofKorenizatsiia ("indigenization"). In these years a Ukrainization program was implemented throughout the republic. In such conditions, the Ukrainian national idea initially continued to develop and even spread to a large territory with traditionally mixed population in the east and south that became part of the Ukrainian Soviet republic.[citation needed]
The All-UkrainianSovnarkom's decree "On implementation of the Ukrainization of the educational and cultural institutions" (July 27, 1923) is considered to be the onset of the Ukrainization program. The (August 1) decree that followed shortly "On implementation of the equal rights of the languages and facilitation of the Ukrainian language" mandated the implementation of Ukrainian language to all levels of state institutions. Initially, the program was met with resistance by someUkrainian Communists, largely because non-Ukrainians prevailed numerically in the party at the time.[citation needed] The resistance was finally overcome in 1925 through changes in the party leadership under the pressure of Ukrainian representatives in the party. In April 1925 the party Central Committee adopted the resolution on Ukrainization proclaiming its aim as "solidifying the union of the peasantry with the working class" and boosting the overall support of the Soviet system among Ukrainians. A joint resolution aimed at "complete Ukrainization of the Soviet apparatus" as well as the party and trade unions was adopted on April 30, 1925. The Ukrainian Commissariat of Education (Narkomos) was charged with overseeing the implementation of the Ukrainization policies. The two figures, therefore, most identified with the policy areAlexander Shumsky, the Commissar for Education between 1923 and 1927, andMykola Skrypnyk, who replaced Shumsky in 1927.[citation needed]
The Soviet-backed education system dramatically raised the literacy of the Ukrainophone rural population. By 1929 over 97% of high school students in the republic were obtaining their education in Ukrainian[9] and illiteracy dropped from 47% (1926) to 8% in 1934.[10]
Simultaneously, the newly literate ethnic Ukrainians migrated to the cities, which became rapidly largely Ukrainianized — in both population and education. Between 1923 and 1933 the Ukrainian proportion of the population ofKharkiv, at the time the capital ofSoviet Ukraine, increased from 38% to 50%. Similar increases occurred in other cities, from 27.1% to 42.1% inKyiv, from 16% to 48% inDnipropetrovsk, from 16% to 48% inOdesa, and from 7% to 31% inLuhansk.[10]
Similarly expansive was an increase in Ukrainian language publishing and the overall flourishing of Ukrainian cultural life. As of 1931 out of 88 theatres in Ukraine, 66 were Ukrainian, 12 were Jewish (Yiddish) and 9 were Russian. The number of Ukrainian newspapers, which almost did not exist in 1922, had reached 373 out of 426, while only 3 all-republican large newspapers remained Russian. Of 118 magazines, 89 were Ukrainian. Ukrainization of book-publishing reached 83%.[10]
Ukrainization was thoroughly implemented through the government apparatus,Communist Party of Ukraine membership and, gradually, the party leadership as well, as the recruitment of indigenous cadre was implemented as part of the korenization policies. At the same time, the usage of Ukrainian was continuously encouraged in the workplace and in government affairs. While initially, the party and government apparatus was mostly Russian-speaking, by the end of the 1920s ethnic Ukrainians composed over one half of the membership in the Ukrainian communist party, the number strengthened by accession ofBorotbists, a formerly indigenously Ukrainian "independentist" and non-Bolshevik communist party.[citation needed]
| Year | Communist Party members and candidates to membership | Ukrainians | Russians | Others |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1922 | 54,818 | 23.3% | 53.6% | 23.3% |
| 1924 | 57,016 | 33.3% | 45.1% | 14.0% |
| 1925 | 101,852 | 36.9% | 43.4% | 19.7% |
| 1927 | 168,087 | 51.9% | 30.0% | 18.1% |
| 1930 | 270,698 | 52.9% | 29.3% | 17.8% |
| 1933 | 468,793 | 60.0% | 23.0% | 17.0% |
In the all-UkrainianIspolkom, central executive committee, as well as in theoblast level governments, the proportion of Ukrainians reached 50.3% by 1934 while inraion ispolkoms the number reached 68.8%. On the city and village levels, the representation of Ukrainians in the local government bodies reached 56.1% and 86.1%, respectively. As for other governmental agencies, the Ukrainization policies increased the Ukrainian representation as follows: officers of all-republicanPeople's Commissariat (ministries) - 70-90%,oblast executive brunches - 50%,raion - 64%,Judiciary - 62%,Militsiya (law enforcement) - 58%.[citation needed]
The attempted Ukrainization of the armed forces,Red Army formations serving in Ukraine and abroad, was less successful although moderate progress was attained. TheSchools of Red Commanders (Shkola Chervonyh Starshyn) was organized inKharkiv to promote the careers of the Ukrainian national cadre in the army (see picture). The Ukrainian newspaper of the Ukrainian Military District "Chervona Armiya" was published until the mid-1930s.[6] The efforts were made to introduce and expand Ukrainian terminology and communication in the Ukrainian Red Army units.[5] The policies even reached the army units in which Ukrainians served in other Soviet regions. For instance theSoviet Pacific Fleet included a Ukrainian department overseen bySemyon Rudniev.[11]
At the same time, despite the ongoing Soviet-wide anti-religious campaign, the Ukrainian nationalOrthodox Church was created, theUkrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (SeeHistory of Christianity in Ukraine). The Bolshevik government initially saw the national churches as a tool in their goal to suppress theRussian Orthodox Church, always viewed with great suspicion by the regime for its being the cornerstone of the defunct Russian Empire and the initially strong opposition it took towards the regime change. Therefore, the government tolerated the new Ukrainian national church for some time and the UAOC gained a wide following among the Ukrainian peasantry.[citation needed]
Ukrainization even reached those regions of southernRussian SFSR, particularly the areas by theDon andKuban rivers, where mixed population showed strong Ukrainian influences in the local dialect. Ukrainian language teachers, just graduated from expanded institutions of higher education in Soviet Ukraine, were dispatched to these regions to staff newly opened Ukrainian schools or to teach Ukrainian as a second language in Russian schools. A string of local Ukrainian-language publications was started and departments of Ukrainian studies were opened in colleges. Overall, these policies were implemented in thirty-five administrative districts in southern Russia.[12]
Starting from the early 1930s, the Ukrainization policies were abruptly and bloodily reversed. "Ukrainian bourgeois nationalism" was declared to be the primary problem in Ukraine. Many Ukrainian newspapers, publications, and schools were switched to Russian. The vast majority of leading scholars and cultural leaders of Ukrainewere purged, as were the "Ukrainianized" and "Ukrainianizing" portions of the Communist party. Major repression started in 1929–30, when a large group of Ukrainian intelligentsia was arrested and most were executed. In Ukrainian history, this group is often referred to as "Executed Renaissance" (Ukrainian: розстріляне відродження). The terror peaked in 1933 during theHolodomor, four to five years before the Soviet-wide "Great Purge", which, for Ukraine, was a second blow. The vast majority of leading scholars and cultural leaders of Ukraine were liquidated, as were the "Ukrainianized" and "Ukrainianizing" portions of the Communist party.[citation needed]
At the 12th Congress of theCommunist Party of Ukraine, Moscow-appointed leaderPavel Postyshev declared that "1933 was the year of the defeat of Ukrainian nationalist counter-revolution."[13] This "defeat" encompassed not just the physical extermination of a significant portion of the Ukrainian peasantry, but also the virtual elimination of theUkrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church clergy and the mass imprisonment or execution of Ukrainian intellectuals, writers and artists. Ukrainian music ensembles had their repertoires severely restricted and censored. Foreign tours by Ukrainian artists were canceled without explanation. Many artists were arrested and detained often for months at a time without cause. After not receiving any pay for many months, many choirs and artistic ensembles such as theKiev andPoltava Bandurist Capellas ceased to exist. Blind traditional folk musicians known askobzars were summoned from all of Ukraine to an ethnographic conference and disappeared (SeePersecutedkobzars andbandurists).[citation needed]
In the regions of southern Russian SFSR (North Caucasus and eastern part ofSloboda Ukraine included into RSFSR) Ukrainization was effectively outlawed in 1932.[14] Specifically, the December 14, 1932 decree "On Grain Collection in Ukraine, North Caucasus and the Western Oblasts" by theVKP(b)Central Committee and USSRSovnarkom stated that Ukrainization in certain areas was carried out formally, in a "non-Bolshevik" way, which provided the "bourgeois-nationalist elements" with a legal cover for organizing their anti-Soviet resistance. In order to stop this, the decree ordered in these areas, among other things, to switch to Russian all newspapers and magazines, and all Soviet andcooperative paperwork. By the autumn of 1932 (beginning of a school year), all schools were ordered to switch to Russian. In addition the decree ordered a massive population swap: all "disloyal" population from a major Cossack settlement,stanitsaPoltavskaya was banished toNorthern Russia, with their property given to loyalkolkhozniks moved from poorer areas of Russia.[15] This forced end to Ukrainization in southern RSFSR had led to a massive decline of reported Ukrainians in these regions in the1937 Soviet Census compared to the 1926First All-Union Census of the Soviet Union.[14]
The Communist Party of Ukraine, under the guidance of state officials likeLazar Kaganovich,Stanisław Kosior, and Pavel Postyshev, boasted in early 1934 of the elimination of "counter-revolutionaries, nationalists, spies and class enemies". Whole academic organizations, such as the Bahaliy Institute of History and Culture, were shut down following the arrests.[citation needed]
In 1935–36, 83% of all school children in the Ukrainian SSR were taught in Ukrainian even though Ukrainians made up about 80% of the population.[16] In 1936 from 1830 newspapers 1402 were in Ukrainian, as were 177 magazines, in 1936 69,104 thousand Ukrainian books were printed.[17]
In the following fifty years the Soviet policies towards the Ukrainian language mostly varied between quiet discouragement and suppression to persecution and cultural purges[citation needed], with the notable exception for the decade ofPetro Shelest's Communist Party leadership in theSoviet Ukraine (1963–1972). The mid-1960s were characterized by moderate Ukrainization efforts in governmental affairs as well as the resurgence of the usage of Ukrainian in education, publishing and culture.[18]
On 28 October 1989, theSupreme Soviet of Ukraine changed theConstitution and adopted the "Law of Languages".[19] The Ukrainian language was declared the onlyofficial language, while the other languages spoken in Ukraine were guaranteed constitutional protection. The government was obliged to create the conditions required for the development and use of Ukrainian language as well as languages of other ethnic groups, includingRussian. Usage of other languages, along with Ukrainian, was allowed in local institutions located in places of residence of the majority of citizens of the corresponding ethnicities.[clarification needed] Citizens were guaranteed the right to use their native or any other languages and were entitled to address various institutions and organizations in Ukrainian, in Russian, or in another language of their work, or in a language acceptable to the parties. After the Ukrainian accession of independence following thedissolution of the Soviet Union the law, with some minor amendments, remained in force in the independent Ukrainian state.[citation needed]
Adopted in 1996, the newConstitution of Ukraine confirmed theofficial state status of the Ukrainian language, and guaranteed the free development, use, and protection of Russian and other languages of national minorities of Ukraine.[20]
After theDeclaration of Independence of Ukraine in 1991, theUkrainian government began following a policy of Ukrainization,[21] to increase the use of Ukrainian while discouraging Russian, which has been gradually phased out from the country's education system,[22] government,[23] and national TV, radio programs, and films.[citation needed] Until 2017, the "On Education" law granted Ukrainian families the right to choose their native language for schools and studies.[24][25] It was revised to make the Ukrainian language the primary language used by children in all schools, except for those belonging to ethnic minorities.[25][26]
Language issues are still used by politicians to generate controversy. On May 20, 2008,Donetsk City Council passed a resolution limiting the expansion of Ukrainian-language education in the city. The following day the city prosecutor declared the decision illegal and the mayor suspended it, and the council reversed itself two days later.[27]
According to a March 2010 survey, forced Ukrainization and Russian language suppression are among the least troubling problems for Ukrainian citizens, concerning only 4.8% of population.[28]
In theWest Ukrainian People's Republic, immediately after taking control of towns in Eastern Galicia, Ukrainian authorities ordered the removal of Polish inscriptions in places were Poles lived and their replacement with Ukrainian ones, while also closing Polish schools.[29] During theaftermath of World War II, the process of Ukrainization in theUkrainian SSR was preceded by the expulsion of some ethnic minorities[30][31] and appropriation of their cultural heritage.[32][33] The termUkrainization is also used in the context of these acts.
DuringWorld War IIOperation Zamość took place,[34][35] which was an ethnic cleansing carried out by Nazis, with the help of their collaborators (including theUkrainian Auxiliary Police),[36] between November 1942 and March 1943 in the Zamość region of occupied Poland. Ukraineraktion was a connected operation that occurred from January to March 1943. It involved theUkrainization of Polish ethnic territories by settling Ukrainian colonizers in those areas as a "protective belt" separating Poles from German colonizers.[37][38] In addition to creating a zone intended to protect the Nazi German population from retaliatory actions by Polish partisans (as Operation Zamosc was seen as a great tragedy and a war crime by the Polish population) the operation also aimed to antagonize Poles with Ukrainians. It indeed sparked hate between these two groups in the area, as local Poles began to view Ukrainians as colonizers and as collaborators with the Nazis.
| Year | Ukrainian | Russian |
|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 45% | 54% |
| 1996 | 60% | 39.2% |
| 1997 | 62.7% | 36.5% |
| 1998 | 65% | 34.4% |
| 1999 | 67.5% | 31.8% |
| 2000 | 70.3% | 28.9% |
| 2001 | 72.5% | 26.6% |
| 2002 | 73.8% | 25.3% |
| 2003–2004 | 75.1% | 23.9% |
The government of independent Ukraine implemented policies to broaden the use of Ukrainian and mandated a progressively increased role for Ukrainian in the media and commerce. The most significant was the government's concerted effort to implement Ukrainian, as the only official state language in the country, into the state educational system. Despite the Constitution, theLaw on Education (grants Ukrainian families (parents and their children) a right to choose their native language for schools and studies[24]) as well as theLaw of Languages (a guarantee for the protection of all languages in Ukraine) the education system gradually reshaped from a system that was only partly Ukrainian to the one that is overwhelmingly so. The Russian language is still studied as a required course in all secondary schools, including those with Ukrainian as the primary language of instructions.[40] The number of secondary school students who received their primary education in Ukrainian grew from 47.9% in 1990–1991[41] (the last school year before Ukrainian independence) to 67.4% in 1999[42] and to 75.1% by 2003–2004 (see table). Ukrainization has achieved even greater gains in higher education institutions where as of 1990–1991 only 7% of students were being taught primarily in Ukrainian.[41] By 2003–2004 the percentage of college andtechnicum students studying in Ukrainian reached 87.7% and for the students of the university-level institutions this number reached 80.1% (see table).
The extent of educational institutions' Ukrainization varies in the different regions of Ukraine. In the 16 westernoblasts (provinces) of Ukraine there are 26 Russian language schools out of 12,907[39] and in Kyiv six out of 452 schools use Russian as their primary language of instruction,[43] (according to a 2006 survey,[44] Ukrainian is used at home by 23% ofKyivans, as 52% use Russian and 24% switch between both). In theDonets Basin region the percentage of students receiving education in Russian roughly corresponds to the percentage of population who considers Russian as their native language and inCrimea the overwhelming majority of secondary schools students are taught in Russian. The distribution is similar in the institutes of the higher education while the latter are somewhat more Ukrainianized.[citation needed]
| Institutions of lower accreditation levels (colleges andtechnicums) | University level institutions of the highest accreditation levels | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Ukrainian | Russian | Ukrainian | Russian |
| 2000–2001 | 78% | 22% | 73.4% | 26.5% |
| 2001–2002 | 80% | 20% | 76.3% | 23.6% |
| 2002–2003 | 81.8% | 18.2% | 77.8% | 22.1% |
| 2003–2004 | 83.4% | 16.6% | 78.7% | 21.2% |
| 2004–2005 | 87.7% | 12.3% | 80.1% | 19.9% |
The increase of the share of secondary school students obtaining education in Ukrainian (from 47.9% to 67%) over the first decade of the Ukrainian independence roughly corresponded to the share of native Ukrainian speakers - 67.5%.[45] Schools continue to be transferred to the Ukrainian language up to this day. At the end of the 1990s, about 50% of professional school students, 62% of college students and 67% of university students (cf. 7% in 1991) studied in Ukrainian[9][46] and in the following five years the number increased even further (see table).
In some cases, the changing of the language of instruction in institutions, led to the charges of assimilation, raised mostly by the Russian-speaking population. Despite this, the transition was gradual and lacked many controversies that surrounded thede-Russification in several of the other formerSoviet Republics, its perception within Ukraine remained mixed.[47]
On September 25, 2017, a new law on education was signed by the President (draft approved by theVerkhovna Rada (Ukraine's national parliament) on September 5, 2017) which said that theUkrainian language is the language of education at all levels except for subjects that are allowed to be taught in two or more languages, namelyEnglish or one of the otherofficial languages of the European Union.
The law was condemned byPACE that called it "a major impediment to the teaching of national minorities".[48] The law also faced criticism from officials inHungary,Romania andRussia.[49] (Hungarian andRomanian are official languages of the European Union,Russian is not.[50][51]) Ukrainian officials stressed that the new law complies fully with European norms on minority rights.[52] The law does state that "Persons belonging toindigenous peoples of Ukraine are guaranteed the right to study in public facilities of preschool and primary education in the language of instruction of the respective indigenous people, along with the state language of instruction" in separate classes or groups.[53] PACE describes this as a significant curtailing of the rights of indigenous peoples carried out without consultations with their representatives.[48] On 27 June 2018 Ukrainian foreign ministerPavlo Klimkin stated that following the recommendation of theVenice Commission the language provision of the (September 2017) law on education will not apply to private schools and that every public school for national minorities "will have broad powers to independently determine which classes will be taught in Ukrainian or their native language."[54][55]
In January 2020 the law was changed and made it legal to teach "one or more disciplines" in "two or more languages – in the official state language, in English, in another officiallanguages of the European Union".[56] All not state funded schools were made free to choose their own language of instruction.[56]
According to the 2020 law until the fifth year of education all lessons can be completely thought in theminority language without mandatory teaching of subjects in Ukrainian.[56] In the fifth year not less than 20% of the lessons must be taught in Ukrainian.[56] Then every year the volume of teaching in the state language (Ukrainian) should increase, reaching 40% in the ninth grade.[56] In the twelfth and final year at least 60% of education should be taught in Ukrainian.[56]
The 2017 language education law stipulated a 3-year transitional period to come in full effect.[25][53] In February 2018, this period was extended until 2023.[57] In June 2023 this period was again extended to September 2024.[58]
Since the introduction of the 2017 language lawHungary–Ukraine relations have greatly deteriorated over the issue of theHungarian minority in Ukraine.[59] Hungary is since 2017 blocking Ukraine's attempt to integrate within the EU and NATO to help the Hungarian minority in Ukraine.[60]
On 8 December 2022, the Ukrainian parliament passed a bill that amend some laws on the rights ofnational minorities in light of theCouncil of Europe’s expert assessment and in order to meet one of theEuropean Commission’s criteria for the opening ofEU membership negotiations.[61] These changes gave the right to privately-owned institutions of higher education to have the right to freely choose the language of study if it is anofficial language of the European Union, while ensuring that persons studying at such institutions study the state language Ukrainian as a separate academic discipline; it guaranteed that national minorities whose language is an official languages of the European Union the right to use the language of the corresponding national minority in the educational process along with the state language and it ensured that pupils who had begun their general secondary education before 1 September 2018 in the language of the corresponding national minority, will have the right to continue to receive such education until the completion of their full secondary education in accordance with the rules that applied before theLaw of Ukraine "On protecting the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the state language" came into force on 16 July 2019.[61][62]
Since 2004 the Ukrainian government has enacted restrictions on Russian-language television and radio programs.[63] Russian-language programs are required to include a Ukrainian translation or subtitles,[63] and local radio and television stations have the right to broadcast in Russian only if they can prove they have a Russian audience.[63] There was some opposition against this ban.[63] Today the ban is in full effect, but Russian movies are mostly subtitled in cinemas and on Ukrainian television. Non-Russian and non-Ukrainian movies which used to be dubbed in Russian may now only be dubbed, post-synchronized or subtitled in Ukrainian.[64][65] Ukrainian authorities defended the ban, stating that it aimed to develop a home-grown Ukrainian distribution industry and to give Ukrainian distributors "muscle" in negotiating their own deals to buy foreign films.[66] Russian distributors control around 90% of foreign films screened in Ukraine and tend to supply Russian-language dubbed or subtitled copies that are part of wider packages distributed throughout Russia and the former Soviet territories. Andriy Khalpakhchi, director theUkrainian Cinema Foundation, claims "Some European sellers at Berlin's film market are reporting that Russian buyers are already threatening not to buy films if they sell directly to Ukraine without using Russian distribution channels."[66] Despite earlier fears that there would be problems due to the introduction of compulsory Ukrainian dubbing of films, the number of visitors to Ukrainian cinemas soared by 40% inQ1 of the year 2009 compared to the same period of the previous year.[67]
SeveralRussian TV channels have not been allowed to broadcast in Ukraine since November 1, 2008, according to Ukraine's National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting mainly because of the advertising aired by the channels.[citation needed] The Ukrainian distributors of television channels were ordered to bring the broadcasts in line with Ukrainian laws.Channel One andRen TV have since been granted temporary permission to broadcast, while a separate version ofRTR Planeta was started specially for Ukrainian TV viewers in October 2009.[68][69]
On 13 May 2010,Russian Foreign MinisterSergei Lavrov claimed that in Ukraine "the discriminatory, politically-motivated, ideology-tinged andanti-Russian decisions that were being made whenYuschenko wasPresident have been lifted".[70]
On 23 May 2017, Ukrainian parliament approved the law proposed in November 2016 that demands national, regional, satellite, and multi-channel TV and radio networks to broadcast at least 75% of their content (summarized on weekly basis separately in time intervals 7 am – 6 pm and 6 pm – 10 pm) in Ukrainian starting from 13 October 2017. 50% is required from local networks, and 75% of news programs is required in Ukrainian for all networks. Films and broadcasts which are not products of these networks and produced after 1991 must be broadcast exclusively in Ukrainian. Reasonable exceptions are provided for inclusion of non-Ukrainian language into otherwise Ukrainian-language broadcasts. TheNational Security and Defense Council of Ukraine may permit exceptions to this law for broadcasts which serve elimination of threats to national security.[71] At the time the only two national Ukrainian TV channels who did not already broadcast 75% of their content in Ukrainian were "Inter" and "Ukraine".[72] Also because of this May 2017 approved law, since 8 November 2018 Ukrainian radio stations must broadcast no less than 35% of songs inUkrainian or if it plays 60% of its songs in theofficial languages of the European Union then 25%.[73][74][75]
In two presidential elections, in 1994 and 2004, the role of languages in Ukraine was an important election issue. In 1994 the main opposition candidate,Leonid Kuchma, in an attempt to widen his political appeal, expressed his support for the idea of Russian becoming the second state language, as well as promising to improve his knowledge of the Ukrainian language. In addition to the stagnating economy, the language issue likely contributed to Kuchma's victory in the election; but while his knowledge of Ukrainian noticeably improved, Kuchma did not follow through on his pledge to make Russian a state language during the 10 years of his presidency.[citation needed]
In 2004 an election promise byViktor Yanukovych (leader of theParty of Regions) to adopt Russian as the second official language might also have increased the turnout of his base, but it was rebutted during the campaign by his opponent (Viktor Yushchenko), who pointed out that Yanukovych could have already taken steps towards this change while he was aPrime Minister of Ukraine if this had really been his priority. During his campaign Yushchenko emphasized that his being painted as a proponent of the closure of Russian schools frequently made by his opponents is entirely baseless and stated his view that the issue of school language, as well as the churches, should be left to local communities.[76] Nevertheless, during Yuchshenko's presidency the transfer of educational institutions from Russian to Ukrainian continued.[77][78][79]
a.PNG)
In the2006 parliamentary election the status of the Russian language in Ukraine was brought up again by the opposition parties. The leading opposition party,Party of Regions, promised to introduce two official languages, Russian and Ukrainian, on the national and regional levels.[80] On the national level such changes require modifying Article 10 of theConstitution of Ukraine, which the party hopes to achieve.[81] Before the election in Kharkiv, and following the election in the other south-eastern regions such asDonetsk,Dnipropetrovsk,Luhansk,Mykolaiv, and the Crimea, the newly elected local councils, won by the Party of Regions (and minor supporting parties), declared Russian as a regional language, citing theEuropean Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, ratified by Ukraine in 2003.[82] In Dnipropetrovsk, the court has found the order of theDnipropetrovsk City Council on introducing Russian as a regional language unlawful,[83] but the legal battle on the local status of the Russian language remains to be resolved.[84]
In the wake of the2006 Parliamentary crisis in Ukraine that fractured the governing coalition and returned Yanukovych to the Prime Ministership, the "Universal of National Unity" signed by President Yushchenko as well as the leaders of several of the most influential political parties declared that Ukrainian would remain the official state language in Ukraine. However, within a week after signing the Universal, Yanukovych, then approved asPrime Minister of Ukraine, stated at a press conference inSochi (Russia) that the implementation of Russian as a second state language remains the goal of his party even though he does not see it achieved in the immediate future because such a change, which would require amending the Constitution, would not collect the required majority (two-thirds) in theParliament of Ukraine given the current political situation.[85]
During theelectoral campaign for the2010 Ukrainian presidential election Yanukovych at first stated that if he would be electedPresident he then will do everything in order to make Russian the second state language in Ukraine,[86] but in an interview withKommersant later during the campaign he stated that the status of Russian in Ukraine "is too politicized" and said that if elected president in 2010 he would "have a real opportunity to adopt a law on languages, which implements the requirements of theEuropean Charter of regional languages". He implied this law would need 226 votes in theUkrainian parliament (50% of the votes instead of the 75% of the votes needed to change theconstitution of Ukraine).[87] After his early 2010 election as President Yanukovych stated (on March 9, 2010) "Ukraine will continue to promote the Ukrainian language as its only state language".[88]
According to the laws on civil and administrative procedure enacted in Ukraine in 2005, all legal and court proceedings in Ukraine are to be conducted in Ukrainian. This does not restrict, however, the usage of other languages, as the law guarantees interpretation services for any language desired by a citizen, defendant or witness.[citation needed]
PresidentPetro Poroshenko claimed to be carrying out the "Ukrainianization of the historical and political calendar - the replacement of theSoviet-Russian imposed upon us."[89][90] This has led to the moving of military holidays to new dates and the creation of theDefenders of Ukraine Day.[90]
The 2017 abolition of May 2 as public holiday (as it was in theSoviet era) and instead (since 2017) makingWestern Christianity's Christmas, celebrated 25 December, a newUkrainian public holiday was also described as moving away from "Moscow's calendar andRussian imperial standards" (byOleksandr Turchynov, the Secretary of theNational Security and Defense Council of Ukraine in 2017).[91][92] (May 1'sInternational Workers' Day remained a Ukrainian public holiday, although it was renamed (also in 2017) from "Day of International Solidarity of Workers" to "Labor Day".[92])
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