Yanukovych signs contentious Russian language law into force

Yanukovych’s Party of the Regions rushed the bill through parliament last month in what opponents saw as an attempt to rally public support in Russian-speaking regions ahead of an October parliamentary election.

The move led to street protests in the capital Kyiv and brawls in parliament as the opposition, which fears it will lead to the status of Ukrainian as the state language being eroded, fought to block it.

But Yanukovych, who is on holiday in Crimea, took advantage of the lack of political activity in the summer lull to sign it into law.

A statement by the presidential administration said he had instructed his government to take the necessary steps to adopt local legislation to take account of the new law.

Ihor
Maltzev, a Kyiv resident said, he thinks Yanukovych didn’t think through the issue and made a mistake to sign the law. “I
know both languages well – but prefer Russian in everyday life. Now we cannot
change anything. We need to
know and preserve all other languages despite the laws.”

But, in other regions, some people were celebrating, although the sincerity of the reaction was in question.

According to Oleksandr Danylyuk, head of the Spilna Sprava (Common Cause) activist
organization, a pro-Russian language demonstration took place in Dnipropetrovsk. He says most of the participants were
brought to the scene and urged to participate.

“These are employees of
Dnipropetrovsk budget organizations – public schools, hospitals and
others. 
“Our activists counted 10 buses [with
participants] from regions of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, mostly with
teachers who were very angry.”

Despite weeks of protests and warnings, the opposition seemed to be caught flat-footed by the presidential signature. Only a dozen or so people gathered outside Ukrainian House near European Square off Kyiv’s main Khreshchatyk Street. Radical Party leader Oleh Liashko was the most visible person there.

Ruslan Koshulynsky, head of election headquarters of Svoboda: “This moment
the party’s leadership is deciding how and in what form to react to [Yanukovych signing the language bill]. Our position will be known very
soon.”

Andriy Parubiy, an opposition lawmaker said : “We will be now be discussing this with our partners
in the opposition. Whatever the protests there will be, such ‘surprises’
will be surfacing permanently. To avoid this we have to give the response
on Oct. 28 and oust them [Party of Regions] from power and then impeach
Yanukovych.”

Danylyuk, the Spilna Sprava head, said: “The country has been invaded and therefore it is
not surprising that the invaders do whatever they want. Nothing new
happened. It makes no sense to demand from the Gestapo your language rights.
On Oct. 28 Party of Regions will find a way to ‘get’ themselves
a constitutional majority in the new parliament. So, we should mobilize
ourselves to protest after [such] election results after Election Day.”

Several thousand people gathered
in Luhansk, an eastern industrial city, just 20
minutes after news of the presidential signature became known. The people were waving flags of Party of Regions.

“The signing of the language
law is an important step
towards the Russian-speaking people of our area,” Vyacheslav
Lytvynov, the head of
Luhansk regional organization of Party of Regions said, as
quoted by Ukrainska
Pravda news site. The press service of Party
of Regions reported that thousands
of supporters of language law have also crowded the streets of
Dnipropetrovsk
and Odesa.

 Photos from
Luhansk and Odesa are available
here: http://www.partyofregions.org.ua/news/502280b6c4ca42cc440003e2.

Opposition politicians, including jailed ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko and one-time foreign minister Arseny Yatseniuk whose two parties have united to fight an Oct. 28 election together, have described the bill as a “crime against the state” which could set citizens at each other’s throats.

“Yanukovych has managed to do everything that the Russian emperors and the Soviet general secretaries could not do. He has passed a death sentence on the Ukrainian language,” said Oleg Medvedev, an opposition political strategist, on Wednesday.

Yanukovych, himself a mother tongue Russian-speaker rather than naturally Ukrainian speaking, has made few public comments on the issue.

But his popularity would have taken a hard knock in his eastern Ukraine power base if he had failed to sign it into law.

While Ukrainian is the only state language, the bill would make Russian an official regional language in predominantly Russian-speaking areas in the industrialised east and southern regions such as Crimea whereRussia’s Black Sea fleet is based.

Opponents of the bill, who regard the Ukrainian language as a touchstone of sovereignty and independence fromRussia, say it will mean that knowledge and usage of Ukrainian will die out in those areas.

The law is likely to be a high-profile issue in the October parliamentary election when the Party of the Regions will have to work hard to maintain its majority after unpopular government policies on pensions, taxation and the cost of home utilities. 

FRAGILE SOVEREIGNTY

Opponents of the bill say it is a blow to the fragile sovereignty of a country long divided between regional powers and persecuted by Moscow’s tsars and its Communist leaders.

They say it will mean that knowledge and usage of Ukrainian will die out in traditional Russian-speaking areas.

Supporters of the bill say it responds to reality on the ground and will mean that Russian speakers will not be discriminated against in state sector employment on the basis of language.

The united opposition is certain to use the issue to stir passions in the run-up to the election when the Party of the Regions will have to work hard to maintain its majority after unpopular government policies on pensions, taxation and the cost of home utilities.

The exclusion of Tymoshenko who had nominally occupied the No. 1 spot on the party list of united opposition candidates came as little surprise since the constitution bans a person serving a jail sentence from running for parliament.

The charismatic 51-year-old former leader of the 2004-5 Orange Revolution street protests is serving a seven-year jail sentence for alleged abuse-of-office while she was prime minister.

Her case has led to a souring of Yanukovich’s relations with the West which says her trial was politically motivated.

The central election commission also excluded from the opposition party list of candidates Yuri Lutsenko, Tymoshenko’s former interior minister. He is serving four and a half years for alleged embezzlement and abuse of office.

In its statement, the united opposition Batkivshchyna called on its supporters to unite against a “regime of poverty and corruption”.

“Only our joint victory in the parliamentary elections will allow us to get rid of the anti-democratic ruling regime and free Leader of the Opposition Yulia Tymoshenko and other political prisoners from jail,” it said.