The Communist Party's faction in the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, insists on holding a nationwide referendum on the issue of granting the Russian language a status of the second official one.
MP Ihor Alekseyev of the communist faction stressed from the parliament’s rostrum on Tuesday that settling the issue of making the Russian language the second official one is among today’s priorities.
"We disagree that this decision should be postponed till things go better… It is time to cut this Gordian knot by holding a nationwide referendum," he said.
At the same time, Alekseyev stressed that it is impossible to settle this issue successfully within the framework of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. He stressed that the communist faction insists that the necessary procedures for the referendum should be launched.
