Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has said that the law on languages should protect the right to develop the native languages of the entire population of the country.
"We must adopt a law that will protect the rights of both Russian-speaking and Ukrainian-speaking people," he said during the Conversation with the Country television project on Friday, when asked about the chances of making Russian a state language.
Yanukovych said that 300 votes are needed to pass through parliament a decision on making Russian the second official language.
According to him, this matter has failed to gain this number of votes in 20 years of the country’s independence.
"And at present we see that there won’t be 300 votes [for this] in the parliament," he added.
"In our public policy it is very important not to raise issues that divide us, but rather to work with you on what unites us. So I am urging both Russian-speaking and Ukrainian-speaking citizens to treat each other with greater patience and greater tolerance," Yanukovych said.
