The Russian web publication Ukraina.ru published a story claiming that “representatives of the Ukrainian capital’s government are advocating the exclusive use of the Ukrainian state language on the territory of the city”.
This fake story uses a draft proposal by Kyiv city council member Yuriy Syrotiuk registered on March 11. Syrotiuk proposes to establish that Ukrainian be used in city advertising, record keeping and official communication with the residents of the city.
There is absolutely no mention of prohibiting Russian in any public or private sphere.
Paragraph 3 of the draft decision clearly states that “Use of other languages is possible on request”. According to Ukraine’s Constitution and the Law on languages, every person is guaranteed the right to choose the language he wishes to speak and no restrictions have ever been enacted limiting that choice.
This fake story about banning the Russian language was reprinted by TASS, Ria Novosti, Antikor, Vesti and other Russian sites.
