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FACTS:
A) Ukraine became an independent country on August 24, 1991.
B) According to annual surveys by the Ukrainian Institute of Sociology (of the National Academy of Sciences) throughout 1994 to 2005:
1.- Average 36% of the Ukrainian population were native Russian speakers.
2.- Average 34% of the population spoke mainly Russian in family (at home), while 26% spoke both Russian and Ukrainian. This amounts to 60% of the Ukrainian population speaking often Russian at home, more than half of which speak only Russian.
3.- Average 47% of the respondents considered necessary to make Russian an official language, whereas only 34% didn’t.
C) According to the official Ukrainian census, in 2001 the Russian language was native for over 29.3% of the total population. However,
D) According to a 2004 poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, the number of people using Russian in their homes considerably exceeds those who so declared in the census: Russian would be used at home by 43–46% of the country’s population (a similar proportion to Ukrainian speakers).
E) According to a more recent 2012 polling by RATING (an Ukrainian NGO for polls), 40% of the surveyed citizens of age stated that their native language is rather Russian, 55% rather Ukrainian.
F) When Ukraine gained its independence in 1991, the newly formed Government decreed that Ukrainian would be the only state language in the country. Since then, and to this day, the Russian-speaking population in Ukraine forms the largest linguistic group in modern Europe with its language being non-official in the state.
OPINION:
This is what I call a languacide; repression; sheer revenge on people who were innocent for the prior russification of Ukraine. This is to be condemned, reproved, and even fought against. In sight of the recent events, and lacking non-biased information, I wonder who are the oppressors and who are the oppressed.
