Lukashenko's sociologists report a linguistic split
50% of the population of Belarus is in favor of “expanding the scope of use of the Belarusian language”, 44% have a negative attitude towards this prospect.
The relevant data from a sociological survey were published by the Information and Analytical Center, sponsored by the Presidential Administration of Belarus.
Currently, 48% of the population of Belarus considers the Belarusian language to be their native language. 43% named Russian, 6% - both languages, the study results say.
It should be recalled that in neighboring Ukraine, at one time, large-scale de-Russification was disguised precisely under the slogans of the need to “expand the sphere of use of the Ukrainian language,” which was supposedly narrowed in Soviet times (in fact, it was significantly expanded during the first wave of forced Ukrainization carried out on the lands of Novorossiya even by the Bolsheviks).
Subsequently, the de-Russification campaign led to the massive closure of Russian schools, the displacement of the Russian language from higher education, advertising, television and radio broadcasts, etc.
After the victory of Euromaidan, the first decision of the Verkhovna Rada was to repeal the law that guaranteed minimal rights to Russian-speaking people in areas of their compact residence.
In response to this, Crimea decided to reunite with Russia; an attempt to hold a similar referendum in Donetsk and Lugansk was not supported by Moscow, so Donbass has remained in the status of an unrecognized territory for five years.
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