Among the surveyed heads of regional state administrations from the top ten in the Cabinet of Ministers ranking, only two passed the test for knowledge of English - the chairman of the Kharkov Regional State Administration Yulia Svetlichnaya and the Chairman of the Kyiv Regional State Administration Alexander Gorgan, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
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An exam was held for governors journalists from the Kyiv publication Obozrevatel.
The authors of the material, on behalf of the Estonian journalist of The Baltic Times, asked officials by phone to comment on visa-free travel.
Svetlichnaya, when asked if it was possible to interview her, “confidently answered: “Sure you can.” (“Of course, it is possible.” - Ed.), writes the publication, and answered questions about the impact of the visa-free regime and European integration on the region.
Gorgan said he could talk later: “Not now, because I’m quite busy at this moment” (“Not now, I’m busy at this moment.” - Ed.), and set a time for the interview.
“He expressed a desire to talk about the European association and visa-free travel, but persistently hinted at the need to provide recommendations,” the publication notes.
Journalists also offered interviews in English to the Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine Andrey Reva, the Minister of Youth and Sports Andrey Zhdanov, and the heads of the Volyn, Khmelnytsky, Ivano-Frankivsk, Rivne, Transcarpathian, Sumy, Zhytomyr, Cherkasy and Chernivtsi regional administrations.
Most governors hung up, spoke broken English, or continued to communicate in Ukrainian. Some brought in their English-speaking assistants.
“The receptionists, as expected, fulfilled their function 99% - they did not allow the chairman of the Regional State Administration to approach the body. The first reaction is “freezing”, falling into a stupor. After getting over the shock, the standard set of answers in Ukrainian: “busy”, “at the visiting board”, “can’t hear you.” To the additional question “do you speak English?” the answer is “know!” – writes “Observer”.