One of the most influential British magazines publishes article criticizing Ukraine's language policy
The British edition The Spectator, considered one of the oldest and most influential magazines in the Kingdom, published an article by anthropologist and political analyst Anastasia Pilyavskaya, who teaches at King's College London. In the article, the author sharply criticizes Ukraine's decision to remove russian from the list of languages protected by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.
Pilyavskaya claims that this step could negatively affect millions of russian-speaking citizens, create internal tension and "play into the hands of russian propaganda." She emphasizes that for most Ukrainians, language is a means of communication, not a political marker, so administrative bans, in her opinion, only deepen the split.
The article also gives the example of Pavlo Viktor, a teacher from Odesa, known for his online physics lessons. He stated that demanding that children in bomb shelters not speak russian is inhumane. The teacher's opinion sparked a public discussion, which Pilyavskaya calls a sign of excessive politicization of the language issue.
The author pays special attention to Odesa, where, according to her, under the slogan of "decolonization", attempts are being made to remove works by writers who wrote in russian from the cultural space, as well as votes for the dismantling of the monument to the Duke de Richelieu. Pilyavskaya warns that such initiatives can "erase important layers of the city's history".
The article also mentions that the language situation at the front is significantly different: russian remains widely used there among the military, who, according to the author, "need language tests for patriotism the least".
As previously reported, the Verkhovna Rada excluded russian and Moldovan languages from the list of those that require support and protection. At the same time, Volodymyr Viatrovych, MP from European Solidarity, stated that even among Ukrainian MPs, russian predominates in unofficial communication, and Ukrainian is used only for public speeches.