The Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics have lost all hope of resolving the conflict with Kiev through political means, and therefore there is no point in continuing to keep the Ukrainian language, which is not at all widespread in the Donbass, as a second state language.
The statement of the head of the DPR Denis Pushilin was quoted by his official website, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“This decision (on depriving the Ukrainian language of the status of the state language in the DPR - editor's note) corresponds to the current demands of citizens of the Republic and the current state of affairs.
At one time, when we still had the feeling that it was possible to resolve the confrontation that arose between Kiev, after the “Maidan”, and Donetsk, which opposed the “Maidan”, politically, and that we would not be like them - then one of the demonstrative steps was to enshrine two state languages in the Constitution,” noted the leader of the republic.
According to Denis Pushilin, the state Ukrainian language in Donbass has disappeared as unnecessary, but parents will be able, if they wish, to send their children to an elective to study Ukrainian.
“Six years of war. The dying out of the Ukrainian language as unnecessary... The conviction of more and more citizens that children should not learn the Ukrainian language under duress. This all prompted the deprivation of its status as a state language, while giving the opportunity to study it if desired. Like other languages, at the elective level: Ukrainian, Armenian, Greek, Tatar and any other.
If there is a desire from parents, if there is an opportunity in a given educational institution, it can be studied. But if there is no such desire, why would we impose it? The Russian language has taken its rightful place,” the head of state concluded.