Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych is not abandoning his program's principles of protecting the Russian language in Ukraine. Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych is not abandoning his program's principles of protecting the Russian language in Ukraine, Presidential Administration Deputy Head Hanna Herman told Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday.

"The issue concerns the implementation of the European Charter for Regional [or Minority] Languages and the fact is that the president, and the deputy faction that supports him, will exert every effort to implement this charter," she said.

Yanukovych said in Kyiv on Tuesday that "the Ukrainian language will develop in the country as the only state language."