Russian In The Ukraine

From Yahoo:
"Ukraine adopts controversial language bill"

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has signed legislation that will allow officials in Russian-speaking regions of the country to use the language while speaking at public events and in documents. Opponents say the law could upset Ukraine's fragile linguistic balance by upgrading Russian and removing incentives for millions of Russian-speaking Ukrainians to learn and speak Ukrainian. Critics fear the law will push Ukraine closer to Russia and away from the West and call the law a cheap ploy by Yanukovych to win votes in the Russian-speaking east ahead of October's parliamentary election. The bill has caused brawls among lawmakers in parliament and street protests, and Yanukovych's move will likely fuel further rallies. When Yanukovych signed the bill Wednesday, he also set up a body to promote the use of Ukrainian.

^ I can understand why Ukrainians would feel so strongly about promoting the Russian language over the Ukrainian language - especially after the 100 + years of Russian/Soviet domination. Despite that I was glad to be able to use Russian when I was in Kiev in 2007  - when I found no one there spoke English and I don't speak Ukrainian (of course I would have preferred to speak English.) It has been 20 + years since the Soviet Union collapsed and I could see a need in the early years of independence to keep the Russian language down against Ukrainian, but I think the time has come to allow people to use Russian in everyday life. I also think that safeguards need to be made to ensure that people also learn Ukrainian. Russian-language schools should be required to teach Ukrainian, etc. ^

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