Ukrainians Clash Over Use of Russian
Associated Press
KYIV, Ukraine—Opposition activists clashed with riot police in the center of the Ukrainian capital Wednesday, and the parliament speaker resigned to protest a bill passed by the legislature that would upgrade the status of the Russian language.
The bill, which was passed Tuesday and must be signed by the president to become law, would leave Ukrainian as the only official state language but allow the use of Russian in courts, schools and other government institutions in Russian-speaking regions of the country.
Members of Ukraine’s pro-Western opposition say such a law would smother the Ukrainian language by removing any incentive for millions of Russian-speaking Ukrainians to learn and speak it. They also say it would bring Ukraine back into the Russian orbit and torpedo its efforts to forge closer ties with the European Union.
Lawmakers loyal to President Viktor Yanukovych, who draws his support from the Russian-speaking east and south, rushed the bill through Parliament on Tuesday night, without giving the opposition much chance to oppose it in a debate.
Parliament Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn, who was absent during the vote, announced his resignation Wednesday, calling the vote illegitimate despite the fact that his own party voted for it. Seven lawmakers announced a hunger strike.
“I have been fooled, Ukraine has been fooled, the people have been fooled,” Mr. Lytvyn told lawmakers. His spokesman would not comment on why his party supported the bill.
On Wednesday, about 2,000 protesters—some clad in traditional embroidered shirts—staged an angry protest against the bill outside a government building in Kyiv where Mr. Yanukovych was planning to hold an annual news conference. The conference was postponed until further notice.
Black-clad riot police with shields and helmets moved in after the activists tried to block the entrance to the building.
Protesters hurled bottles of water and sticks at the police, and both sides used pepper-spray against each other. Ambulances rushed to the scene to treat protesters and police who were injured in the clashes. Vitali Klitschko, an opposition leader and WBC heavyweight champion, suffered an injury to one of his hands.
The president has said he hasn’t decided whether to approve or veto the bill, but Mr. Lytvyn’s resignation will likely delay that process because it cannot be submitted to the president without the speaker’s signature.
Mr. Yanukovych urged lawmakers to work out their differences, but he said that if a compromise isn’t found and the crisis continues, he may move to an earlier date a parliamentary election now planned for Oct. 28.
Mr. Yanukovych’s critics accuse him of using the contentious language issue to win back support from his Russian-speaking constituency ahead of the election, as his approval ratings slide amid an economic hardship.
They also claim the president is using the controversy to divert attention from the politically tainted imprisonment of former premier Yulia Tymoshenko and other opposition leaders, a move that has been criticized by the West.
“This is about the country, this is about each of us… about the Constitution, the language,” said opposition leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk, who urged Ukrainians to protest the bill.
On Tuesday, the Strasbourg Court of Human rights ruled that Yuri Lutsenko—a former Interior Minister in Ms. Tymoshenko’s cabinet who has been sentenced to four years in prison on charges of abuse of office—had been detained arbitrarily. The ruling was a further blow to Mr. Yanukovych—already stung by a boycott by top EU officials of the Euro 2012 football championships that Ukraine recently co-hosted.
An earlier debate in parliament about the Russian-language bill caused a brawl between lawmakers that left one legislator hospitalized.