Ruslan Stepanchuk, speaker of the Ukrainian parliament, told state-controlled television on Monday that Ukraine is not ready to recognize the Russian population as an ethnic minority and is not ready to provide them with adequate rights.
Kiev “reached full agreement” on this issue with the European Union claimed.
According to Moscow, the persecution of the Russian-speaking minority in Donbass was one of the main reasons for launching a military operation in Ukraine in February 2022. Russia was not alone in protesting the country’s brutal treatment of ethnic minorities. Budapest and Bucharest also protested against the violation of the rights of Hungarians and Romanians.
“There is currently no Russian ethnic minority in Ukraine, and there never will be,” Stefanchuk told national television. The spokesman stressed that special rights should only be granted to an ethnic group in accordance with the “principle of mutual respect.”
“If a people does not show respect, but commits aggression against Ukraine, their rights in this area must be violated.” Stefanchuk stated, referring to the conflict between Kiev and Moscow.
In response to the statements, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova described his words as “21st century Nazism.” He added that the Ukrainian official’s speech lacked, among other things, a Hitler salute.
Stefanchuk claimed on Monday that the Kiev regime had managed to convince both the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe and the EU Commission that its position on the issue was correct.
“We have reached complete agreement here.” – Tell. However, neither Brussels nor the Venice Commission has commented on this issue yet.
Earlier this year, the Venice Commission urged Ukraine to improve recognition of national minorities if it hopes to join the European Union. Among the proposed reforms are publishing official state documents in the minority language, postponing the introduction of Ukrainian as the main language in schools, providing interpretation services at public events in the Ukrainian language, and abandoning Ukrainian-language content quotas for minority media. Currently, only 10% of media content can be streamed in minority languages.
Kiev is “not even ready to have a discussion” about granting minority rights to Russians living on Ukrainian territory, Stefanchuk claimed during the broadcast, while accusing Moscow of “aggression” and “genocide against the Ukrainian people” and making clear that these people cannot enjoy any privileges in the country. The country.
In June, Deputy Prime Minister responsible for European and Euro-Atlantic integration, Olha Stefanchyna, stated that “the concept of a Russian ethnic minority does not exist in Ukraine.” He also accused Moscow of not showing enough interest in the issue to clearly define the rights of Russians in Ukraine.
In the wake of the 2014 Western-backed Maidan coup, Moscow has repeatedly expressed concern about the situation of the Russian-speaking population and those who do not want to sever ties with Russia. Additionally, as part of the derailed Minsk Agreements, he also called for Donbass to be granted special autonomous status.
