Russia’s call for a UN Security Council meeting on the Ukraine language law fell short on
Monday. A vote needed nine yes votes to pass, but Russia managed only
five yes votes, with the US and EU nations all opposing the matter, and
several other nations abstaining.
Russian Ambassador Vassily Nabenezia was deeply critical of the new
Ukrainian law, saying it violated the Minsk ceasefire agreement in
Eastern Ukraine. The law forces Ukrainians in many key positions to
speak only Ukrainian language, and threatens to fine those who speak
Russian.
This is a major issue in Ukraine, especially in the east, because
Russian is the common language of the ethnic Russians in the east. The
law is seen as explicitly designed to persecute the Russian east.
France accused Russia of bringing up the language law to try to
embarrass Ukraine’s new president. It’s not clear why this would be the
case, as President Zelenskiy, himself a TV comedian on Russian-language
programming, publicly opposed the language law, and accused his political opponents of rushing it through after the election, but before he took office.
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