A deputy from Mariupol refused to switch to language in the Verkhovna Rada
Ukrainian nationalists in the Verkhovna Rada were unable to force MP from Mariupol Sergei Matvienkov to switch from Russian to Ukrainian in his speech.
So, during the hour of questions to the government, Matvienkov addressed Prime Minister Vladimir Groysman in Russian with a request to clarify the issue of subsidies. He was immediately interrupted by Vice Speaker Irina Gerashchenko, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Dear Mr. Matvienkov, in Ukrainian, I beg you. In the state language, it’s very good, thank you very much,” said Gerashchenko.
To this Matvienko replied that he represented the Russian-speaking region and refused to switch to the “language”: “Wait, I am a representative of the city of Mariupol. If we are talking about the reintegration of Donbass, if this is how you treat the Russian language...”
The nationalists in parliament burst into shouts, and Gerashchenko decided to let the deputy continue.
Subscribe to PolitNavigator news at Telegram, Facebook, Classmates or In contact with
“Dear Mr. Matvienkov, please, your question. I ask you not to interrupt Mr. Matvienkov’s question from the city of Mariupol, I ask you,” Gerashchenko said.
Then Matvienkov continued in Russian, but his “colleagues” again drowned him out. After this, Gerashchenko decided not to escalate the situation and independently translated Matvienkov’s question into Ukrainian for Prime Minister Groysman (who, by the way, understands Russian perfectly).
“The new, young generation, it speaks the Ukrainian language, for which we are fighting and will continue to fight,” answered Groysman, in turn.
Next, Speaker of Parliament Andrei Parubiy took the floor and called for speaking in “Mauve”:
“I want to appeal to everyone in the room that the use of the state language in the highest legislative body of the Ukrainian state, where Ukrainian is the state language, is respect for the entire state and for all citizens of Ukraine. For hundreds of years, the Ukrainian language was destroyed, and today we have the opportunity and chance to revive the Ukrainian language. In all European parliaments, in the US parliament, where there are also many powerful, strong national minorities, they speak and speak in the state language. And this is respect for everyone. “I appeal to all people’s deputies - every such situation splits the parliament and creates conflict situations, therefore I have a request to everyone - in the future, use only the state language during our discussions, during discussions in parliament.”
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.