As of 2019, Ukrainian is the one and only official language in Ukraine. And the law punishes people who speak Russian when they hold an official position.
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In his office atop a Stalinist building in downtown kyiv, Taras Kremin struggles to hide his pride. “For the first time since the independence of Ukraine, we have fined an associate professor of a university in the capital for using a non-state language”, welcomes the one who, commissioner for the protection of the state language, is in charge of enforcing the law. As of 2019, Ukrainian is the one and only official language in Ukraine. Civil servants, whether teachers or postal workers, are obliged to speak Ukrainian. The law comes into force step by step.
The professor gave lessons in Russian while the teaching must be given in Ukrainian. He was fined 90 euros, more than half the minimum wage. “It will be a very strong signal for the whole education system.continues Taras Kremin. Several dozen disgruntled students alerted us.
Taras Kremin doesn’t call it denunciation but reporting. “In this context of war, he points out, not only citizens began to opt more and more for Ukrainian, but they begin to demand that others also communicate in the state language.” According to him, this is especially felt “where people have seen what the Russian world is like”, “when they saw people being tortured, injured, killed”.
The Russian authorities claim – wrongly – that Russian speakers in Ukraine are in danger. He claims that the Russian language is forbidden now. The Kremlin dubbed Taras Kremin the “Sprachen Führer”, the Hitler of language. By sanctioning in this way, isn’t he playing into Vladimir Putin’s game? “We must wage a war also for the Ukrainian language which has been destroyed for 300 years, he retorts. The people who defend the country are also those who defend their language.” But he wants to reassure: “Ukrainian is and will be the state language, but what language you speak in your kitchen is an individual matter.” Most Ukrainians understand and speak both languages at least partially. But eastern and southern Ukraine are still predominantly Russian-speaking.