You're reading: Yatsenyuk: Kyiv proposes Kremlin make Ukrainian second official language in Russia

Ukraine has proposed that Russia grant the official status to the Ukrainian language, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has said.

“The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has made a statement on the matter.
The Ukrainian-speaking community is the largest in Russia, and it would
be completely natural if Ukrainian is a second state language in Russia,
or at least has a special status,” he said during Dragon Capital’s 10th
annual investment conference in Kyiv on Wednesday.

He said that Ukraine was also asking the Russian authorities to open Ukrainian schools in Russia.

“It’s also necessary to give an answer to the religious beliefs of
Ukrainians in Russia so that the principle of freedom of religion was
not just declared, but also carried out,” Yatsenyuk said.

“I see that Russia is very concerned about the Ukrainian Constitution
and about the Ukrainian state system, and we are also really concerned
about our Russian neighbors. We wish them all the best, so that all is
well in their country, so that $65 billion per quarter does not run away
from their economy, and so that Visa and MasterCard credit cards could
operate in their country,” he added.