Russians have organised linguistic murder of Ukrainian language in the occupied territories — Kremin

Taras Kremin said that Russians have organised a linguistic war in the occupied territories, photo: facebook/taras.kremin

The Russian occupation authorities continue to oppress the Ukrainian language in the temporarily occupied territories and abroad. Ukrainian teachers and students are under pressure from Russian propaganda to switch to Russian.

This was stated by Taras Kremin, the Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language in 2020-2025, on the air of the «Priamyi» TV channel.

«With the beginning of the full-scale invasion and, of course, with the beginning of the aggression in 2014, the issue of language has not left the enemy's agenda. What we see in the temporarily occupied territories, what we see in the international space, such as in Europe, where there is a concentration of internally displaced Ukrainians, how the Russians create opportunities and force them into their cultural so-called centres with further processing of their worldview and consciousness,» said Taras Kremin.

According to him, teachers of the Ukrainian language, literature and history in the occupied territories are being forced to teach Russian subjects, which is a manifestation of linguistic violence. Therefore, according to Taras Kremin, it is necessary to increase responsibility for violations of the language rights of Ukrainian citizens by introducing appropriate amendments to the Criminal Code.

«There should be strict liability for linguistic violence in the temporary occupation. The language is under great pressure there, so it is necessary to introduce punishment for such actions,» said Taras Kremin.

To recap, the Government of Ukraine plans to remove Russian and Moldovan from the list of languages protected by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.