Language (Human) Rights, Violations and Security Policy in the Context of Russia’s War Against Ukraine

Russia has already used the issue of linguistic and nationality rights of the Russian minority in Ukraine as a pretext in 2014, when it invaded Crimea and supported the breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine. Russian President Putin’s speech immediately prior to the launch of the war against Ukraine also emphasises the language issue. This paper looks at the possible link between linguistic (human) rights and their violation and security policy. Using the example of the linguistic rights of the Hungarian community in Transcarpathia, it examines whether Ukrainian language policy in recent years can be interpreted as a violation of linguistic rights, and also seeks to answer the question of whether there can be a balance between the guarantee of linguistic rights of minorities and security policy.