The Russian Language in Ukraine: Complicit in Genocide, or Victim of State-Building?

Abstract

This chapter tracks the fate of the Russian language in Ukraine. The fate of Russian in Ukraine, and indeed of Ukrainian in Ukraine, has been at the centre of heated political debates ever since Ukraine became independent, on the collapse of the USSR in late 1991. I start this chapter with a brief account of Ukraine’s linguistic complexity, followed by a summary and critique of some key legal provisions. My approach is based on my experience over many years as a scholar and legal expert – for the EU, Council of Europe, and OSCE - with regard to Ukraine. I analyse the main provisions of the Constitution, followed by an examination of the 1989 Law on Languages. I place this in the context of the most relevant of Ukraine’s international legal commitments, the European Charter. Next I analyse the question of genocide – or the ‘Holodomor’ as it is termed in Ukraine. I turn finally to the voices which proclaim that the Russian language has been the victim of Ukrainian state-building since independence.