Valery Konovalyuk, the leader of Trudovaya Ukraina (The Labour Ukraine) told ForUm he absolutely supports the Russian language as the second state language of Ukraine.
“I regard it not only as an idea but as an active position aimed at defence of the Russian language. Five years ago, I submitted draft bill ‘About Languages in Ukraine’ which reads about the status, the rights and the possibilities belonged to those citizens of Ukraine whose native language is Russian. I think it is inadmissible and amoral to use the language problem on the eve of every election in Ukraine. It is necessary to comprehend that there are lots of other values and possibilities being pursued by the European society in the third millennium. We must form a policy aimed at protection of every citizen of Ukraine independently of what language the citizen speaks. It is exceeded the limits of common sense when the school program provides three academic hours apiece for Russian classic literature (Lev Tolstoy) and for foreign literature (Korean author, for example),” said Konovalyuk.
“I am sure that to defend the Russian language means to promote Ukrainian one. If the Act “About Languages in Ukraine” is passed, the language problem will be settled without additional changes to the Constitution of Ukraine,” stressed Valery Konovalyuk.
Commenting on the political ads, the leader of Trudovaya Ukraina noted “We must get used to the idea that ads’ statements shouldn’t be treated seriously.”
