Language Question in Ukraine: A Legal or a Political Category?

After the turn of the millennium in Ukraine, numerous legal acts and other subordinate provisions affected negatively those speaking different languages than the official Ukrainian. In this period, the practice of language use regulations in several spheres of life changed fundamentally, in favour of the state language. Previously, the legal measures regulating the language of certain areas (taxation, finances, insurance, medicine, elections, food quality etc.) and of drafting, publication and application of official documents etc. were referred to the language law, but after 2000, all newly adopted legal acts provided for the exclusivity of the state language law. This tendency became particularly intense after the Orange Revolution when the Ukrainian nationalistic prevalence became evident within the government: the leadership of ministries connected to humanities (culture, education, minority issues) were exclusively assigned to nationally committed cadres. The ruining measures taken afterwards—disguised as education reform—included a series of regulations constituting major obstacles for education in the mother tongue in Ukraine.