Russian language in Ukraine

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People supporting the decision of the Kharkiv City Council to make the Russian language official on the local level.

Russian is the major minority language in Ukraine. It is the most common first language in Donbass and Crimea regions, the most commonly used language in east and south of the country as well as in its capital, Kiev, and the most widespread second language throughout Ukraine. The usage and status of the language is an object of political disputes within Ukrainian society and the considerable Russian minority of the country.

[edit] History of Russian language in Ukraine

Main article: History of Russian language in Ukraine

Although the ancestors of a small ethnic group of Russians - Goriuns resided in Putyvl region (what is modern northern Ukraine) in the times of Grand Duchy of Lithuania or perhaps even earlier^[1][2], the Russian language in Ukraine has primarily come to exist in that country through two channels: the migration of ethnic Russians into Ukraine and through the adoption of the Russian language by Ukrainians.

The first new waves of Russian settlers onto Ukrainian territory came in the late 16th century to the empty lands of Slobozhanschyna, in what is now northeastern Ukraine, that the Russian state gained from the Tatars ^[2], although they were outnumbered by Ukrainian peasants escaping harsh exploitative conditions from the west ^[3].

More Russian speakers appeared in northern, central and eastern Ukrainian territories during the late 17th century, following the Cossack Rebellion led by Bohdan Khmelnytsky. The Uprising led to a massive movement of Ukrainian settlers to the Slobozhanschyna region, which converted it from a sparsely inhabited frontier area to one of the major populated regions of the Tsardom of Russia. Following the Pereyaslav Rada the modern northern and eastern parts of Ukraine entered into the Tsardom of Russia. This brought the first significant, but still small, wave of Russian settlers into central Ukraine (primarily several thousand soldiers stationed in garrisons,^[4] out of a population of approximately 1.2 million ^[5] non-Russians). Although the number of Russian settlers in Ukraine prior to the eighteenth century was small, the local upper classes within the part of Ukraine acquired by Russia came to use the Russian language widely.

Beginning in the late eighteenth century, large numbers of Russians settled in newly acquired lands in southern Ukraine, a region then known as Novorossiya ("New Russia"). These lands had been largely empty prior to the eighteenth century due to the threat of Crimean Tatar raids, but once the Tatar state was eliminated as a threat, Russian nobles were granted large tracts of fertile land that was worked by newly arrived peasants, most of whom were ethnic Ukrainians but many of whom were Russians [2].

The nineteenth century saw a dramatic increase in the urban Russian population in Ukraine, as Russian settlers moved into and populated the newly industrialized and growing towns. This phenomenon helped turn Ukraine's most important towns into Russophone environments. By the beginning of the 20th century the Russians were the largest ethnic group in almost all of Ukraine's largest cities, including the following: Kiev (54,2 %), Kharkiv (63,1 %), Odessa (49,09 %), Mykolaiv (66,33 %), Mariupol (63,22 %), Luhansk, (68,16 %), Kherson (47,21 %), Melitopol (42,8 %), Dnipropetrovsk, (41,78 %), Kirovohrad (34,64 %), Simferopol (45,64 %), Yalta (66,17 %), Kerch (57,8 %), Sevastopol (63,46 %) ^[6]. The Ukrainian migrants who settled in these cities entered a Russian speaking milieu and, for the most part, adopted the Russian language.

The Russian government promoted the spread of the Russian language among the native Ukrainian population by actively suppressing the Ukrainian language. Alarmed by the threat of Ukrainian separatism implied by a growing number of school textbooks teaching the Ukrainian language, the Russian Minister of Internal Affairs Pyotr Valuev in 1863 issued a secret decree that banned the publication of religious texts and educational texts written in the Ukrainian language ^[7]. This ban was expanded by Tsar Alexander II who issued the Ems Ukaz in 1876. All Ukrainian language books and song lyrics were banned, as was the importation of such works. Furthermore, Ukrainian-language public performances, plays, and lectures were forbidden.^[8] In 1881, the decree was amended to allow the publishing of lyrics and dictionaries, and the performances opf some plays in the Ukrainian language with local officials' approval. Ukrainian-only troupes were, however, forbidden.

While officially, there was no state language in the Soviet Union, Russian was in practice in a privileged position. The Ukrainian language was often frowned upon or quietly discouraged, which led to the gradual decline in its usage. Consequently, Russian remains more widely spoken than Ukrainian in many parts of Ukraine, notably most of the urban areas of the east and south.

[edit] Modern usage

[edit] 2001 Census

Percentage of people with Russian as their native language according to 2001 census (in regions).

Percentage of people who prefer to use Russian according to 2003 survey by KIIS (in macroregions).

According to official data from the 2001 Ukrainian census, the Russian language is native for over 14,273,000 Ukrainian citizens (29.3 % of the total population).^[9] Ethnic Russians form 56% of the total Russian-speaking population, while the remaining Russophones are people of other ethnic background: 5,545,000 Ukrainians, 172,000 Belarusians, 86,000 Jews, 81,000 Greeks, 62,000 Bulgarians, 46,000 Moldavians, 43,000 Tartars, 43,000 Armenians, 22,000 Poles, 21,000 Germans, 15,000 Crimean Tartars.

Therefore the Russian-speaking population in Ukraine forms the largest linguistic group in modern Europe with its language being non-official in the state. The Russian-speaking population of Ukraine constitutes the largest Russophone community outside the Russian Federation.

[edit] Polls

According to a 2004 public opinion poll by the Kiev International Sociology Institute, the number of people using Russian language at their homes considerably exceeds the number of those who declared Russian as their native language in the census. According to the survey, Russian is used at home by 43–46% of the population of the country (in other words a similar proportion to Ukrainian) and Russophones make a majority of the population in Eastern and Southern regions of Ukraine:^[10]

• Autonomous Republic of Crimea — 97% of the population
• Dnipropetrovsk Oblast — 72%
• Donetsk Oblast — 93%
• Zaporizhia Oblast — 81%
• Luhansk Oblast — 89%
• Mykolaiv Oblast — 66%
• Odessa Oblast — 85%
• Kharkiv Oblast — 74%

Russian language dominates in informal communication in the capital of Ukraine, Kiev.^{[11] [12]} It is also used by a sizeable linguistic minority (4-5% of the total population) in Central and Western Ukraine.^[13]

According to data obtained by the "Public opinion" foundation (2002), the population of the oblast centres prefers to use Russian (75%).^[14] Continuous Russian linguistic areas occupy certain regions of Crimea, Donbass, Slovozhanschyna, southern parts of Odessa and Zaporizhia oblasts, while Russian linguistic enclaves exist in central Ukraine and Bukovina.

[edit] Russian language in Ukrainian politics

On a cross-national survey only 0,5% of respondents feelt they where dicriminated because of there language.^[17]

Support for Russian language as official for all the state (in regions, according to 2005 survey by the National Institute of Strategic Research)

Russophone activists collect signatures in support of introducinsg the Russian language as regional in Odessa, 2007

The Russian language in Ukraine is not a state language, and is only recognized as language of a national minority. As such, the Russian language is explicitly mentioned in the Constitution of Ukraine adopted by the parliament in 1996. Article 10 of the Constitution reads: "In Ukraine, the free development, use and protection of Russian, and other languages of national minorities of Ukraine, is guaranteed".^[19] The Constitution declares Ukrainian language as the state language of the country, while other languages spoken in Ukraine are guaranteed constitutional protection. The Ukrainian language was adopted as the state language by the Law on Languages adopted in Ukrainian SSR in 1989; Russian was specified as the language of communication with the other republics of Soviet Union.^[20]

Ukraine signed the European Charter on Regional or Minority Languages in 1996, and ratified it as late as in 2002 when the Parliament adopted the law that partly implemented the charter.^[21] Since then, there no specific law were adopted to define the territory and measures to protect the Russian language.

Although officially the Russian-speaking population is about 30 % (2001 census) 39 % of the Ukrainians interviewed in a 2006 survey thinks that the rights of the Russophones are violated because the Russian language is not official in the country, whereas 38 % had the opposite position.^{[22] [23]}

The issue of Russian receiving status of second official language has been the subject of extended controversial discussion ever since Ukraine became independent in 1991. In every Ukrainian election, many politicians, such as Leonid Kuchma, used their promise of making Russian a second state language to win support. (The former Prime Minister and) current leader of the Party of Regions Viktor Yanukovych continued this practice. Current president Viktor Yushchenko, during his 2004 Presidential campaign, also claimed a willingness to introduce more equality for Russian speakers. His clipping service spread an announcement of his promise to make Russian language proficiency obligatory for officials who interact with Russian-speaking citizens.^[24] In 2005 Yushchenko stated that he had never signed this decree project.^[25]

The controversy is seen by some as a deliberate policy of Ukrainization.^[26][27]

For example, the amount of Russian-teaching schools has been systematically reduced since 1991 and now it is much lower than the proportion of Russophones.^{[28] [29] [30]}

In 2006 the Kharkiv City Rada was the first to declare Russian to be a regional language.^[31] Following that, almost all southern and eastern oblasts (Luhansk, Donetsk, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, and Kherson oblasts), and major cities (Sevastopol, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Yalta, Luhansk, Zaporizhia, Kryvyi Rih, Odessa) followed suit. By ruling of several courts, decision to change the status of the Russian language in the cities of Kryvyi Rih, Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia and Mykolaiv have been overturned as well as in Donetsk, Mykolaiv and Kharkiv oblasts.^[32] According to survey by "Research and Branding group" (June, 2006) the majority of the interviewed supported the decisions of local authorities: 52 % largely supported (including 69 % of population of eastern oblasts and 56 % of southern regions), 34 % largely did not support the decisions, 9 % - answered "partially support and partially not", 5 % had no opinion.^[33]

According to parliament deputy Vadim Kolesnichenko, the official policies of the Ukrainian state are discriminatory towards the Russian-speaking population.^[21] The Russian language population received 12 times less state funds then the tiny Romanian-speaking population in 2005-2006.^[21] The schooling in Russian is nearly stopped in all central and western oblasts and Kiev.^[21] The Russian language is not available anymore in higher education in all Ukraine, including the areas with a Russian-speaking majority.^[21] The broadcasting in Russian averaged 11.6 % (TV) and 3.5 % (radio) in 2005.^[21]

[edit] Russophone community

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Over the course of the 20th century, if not during the whole period of Imperial Russian rule in Ukraine, the ever-changing policies of Ukrainization and Russification have created a society that lives in south-eastern Ukraine that is thought to be neither wholly Ukrainian nor Russian.^[34]

Potentially this could cause Ukraine serious problems, and the official reasoning of those who reject making Russian official is that such a move would force Ukraine to slowly gravitate back to Russia, or, on a regional level, threaten its territorial integrity at a time of crisis.

Protesters against the forced Ukrainization of a Russian public school in Chuhuiv (Kharkiv Oblast, 2005).

However, some, like the French researcher Dominique Arel, hold a different opinion on the matter. Despite the ethnic mixing that took place ever since the land was settled in the 19th century by colonisers from other regions of the Empire, the people there do not share the same Ukrainian mentality as those in the central and western regions, and thus many feel alienated by Kiev's pro-Western Ukrainian orientation. Arel thinks that if Russian were to be raised to the level of state language, this alienation would promptly end, and the people would cease to feel like second-class citizens and realise that they hold equal importance in Ukrainian politics as those from the central and western regions.^[35]

A Ukrainian historian, Viktor Horodyanenko, states that "The Russian-speaking socio-cultural community is characterized by informal integrity; it appears as an independent subject in social behaviour. The basic system-formative characteristics are ethnicity (there are 11,000,000 Russians in Ukraine), residence (Russophones live in the industrial cities of Eastern and Southern Ukraine), intactness of the native language among Russians, firm ties of the Russians in Ukraine with the maternal ethnic group, largely intact national traditions and Russian spiritual culture, and adherence to a single faith (Orthodoxy). For the time being, the Russian-speaking citizens do not aspire to separatism, have faith in democratic reforms, but preserve their distinctive mentality and social behaviour".^[36]

[edit] Education in Russian

The Russian-speaking population (according to 2001 census) and percentage of the students receiving education in Russian language in 2006/2007.^[37]

[edit] Status, rights, and policies toward Russian language

• In 2000 the British "Guardian" informed that "the Lviv city council has been trying to ban Russian-language pop music in bars and cafes and to close down a Russian-language radio station, and linguistic vigilantes have been cruising shops and kiosks, bullying retailers into dumping Russian literature, newspapers and CDs."^[38]
• On February 28, 2007 the Contitutional court of Ukraine forbad the member of parliament Serhiy Matvienkov (Socialist Party of Ukraine, Mariupol) to speak in Russian during his report.^[39]
• Russian language in Ukraine dominates in certain areas — it is the language of most of Ukraine’s leading print newspapers. Russian also dominates in leading Ukrainian magazines and other printed media. ^[40]
• According to surveys there is no agreement among Ukrainian citizens on the need to raise the status of Russian language. In 2006 survey by All Ukrainian Sociological Service 42,6% of respondents expressed no need to change the status of Russian language, 28,8% agreed with the idea of Russian being the second state language and 20% agreed that Russian language should only be official in the predominantly Russian speaking regions.^[41]
• According to 2006 survey by Research & Branding Group (Donetsk) 39 % of Ukrainian citizens think that the rights of the Russophones are violated because the Russian language is not official in the country, whereas 38 % of the citizens have the opposite position (2006, survey).^[42][43]
• On a cross-national survey only 0,5% of respondents felt they where dicriminated because of their language.^[17]

[edit] See also

• Russians in Ukraine

[edit] Bibliography

• Русские говоры Сумской области. Сумы, 1998. — 160 с ISBN 966-7413-01-2
• Русские говоры на Украине. Киев: Наукова думка, 1982. — 231 с.
• Степанов, Є. М.: Російське мовлення Одеси: Монографія. За редакцією д-ра філол. наук, проф. Ю. О. Карпенка, Одеський національний університет ім. І. І. Мечнікова. Одеса: Астропринт, 2004. — 494 с.
• Фомин А. И. Языковой вопрос в Украине: идеология, право, политика. Монография. Второе издание, дополненное. — Киев: Журнал «Радуга». — 264 с ISBN 966-8325-65-6
• Rebounding Identities: The Politics of Identity in Russia and Ukraine. Edited by Dominique Arel and Blair A. Ruble Copub. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006. 384 pages. ISBN 0801885620 and ISBN 9780801885624
• Bilaniuk, Laada. Contested Tongues: Language Politics And Cultural Correction in Ukraine. Cornell University Press, 2005. 256 pages. ISBN 9780801443497
• Laitin, David Dennis. Identity in Formation: The Russian-Speaking Populations in the Near Abroad. Cornell University Press, 1998. 417 pages. ISBN 0801484952

[edit] References