Lack of Ukrainian language schools in Russia because the languages are “closely-related”

Moscow claims that despite the large number of Ukrainians living in the Russian Federation, there are “virtually no requests” from parents or civic organizations to open Ukrainian-language schools.

Answering journalists’ questions about Ukrainians’ rights in Russia, Andrei Nesterenko, an official representative of the RF Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that “this can perhaps be explained by the relatedness of East Slavonic languages and culture, common history (Kyivan Rus, the Moscow State, the Russian Empire and the USSR), as well as a single Orthodox Christian faith.”

Furthermore, “culture measures carried out in the Russian Federation by various civic organizations largely take into account the needs of ethnic Ukrainians”. 

“Due to the above-stated reasons in the Russian Federation there are no schools where the curriculum is taught in Ukrainian”.

He gave figures for Russia, with the overall number of Ukrainians reaching almost 3 million. He claimed however that it was unjustified to compare the situation of Russians in Ukraine, with Ukrainians in Russia.

It is not quite clear what Mr Nesterenko meant, however the lack of Ukrainian-language schools in his country highlights a major difference from Ukraine. 

Worth mentioning also that Russia has yet to sign the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

Information about the press conference from a text at www.pravda.com.ua