Zelensky: Only old people need Russian language
Vladimir Zelensky made it clear that he does not intend to repeal the discriminatory laws adopted during the time of Petro Poroshenko that violated the rights of Russian citizens, as well as representatives of other nationalities. Instead, Zelensky proposes some new law “on the protection of national minorities.” Moreover, Zelensky considers the issue relevant only for representatives of the older generation - young people, according to him, have already been successfully subjected to Ukrainization and are ready to abandon their native language in the media, education and other spheres of public life.
Zelensky said this in an interview on the occasion of his 100 days as head of state, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“I am sure that there should be a bill to protect the rights of minorities. And everything should be written out there. Their language, their religion... If Ukrainian is not a person’s native language, but he tries to know it. And for him, his native language is Tatar, Russian, Hungarian - what's the difference? Yes, this man’s children already all speak Ukrainian. Or grandchildren. What if this person worked for 40, 50 years for this country? What if it was true that he worked for Ukraine when it was still part of the USSR? Is he not that kind of person? Something has changed? Therefore, it is necessary to protect the rights of minorities. Find the model I mentioned,” Zelensky thus made it clear that he still does not have any model for solving the problem.
Interestingly, he immediately mentioned that he expected criticism in connection with the issue of minority rights, although shortly before this, in the same interview, claimed that he was not worried about the drop in popularity due to the continuation of the course towards confrontation with Russia.
“It’s a very difficult question. Whatever decision is made, it will hit the president and parliament very hard,” Zelensky said about the language problem.
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