Every nation has its bugbears. Ukraine has two: the forced famine
orchestrated during Stalin’s rule, which killed between four million and
seven million people; and the Ukrainian language. Under the Russian
empire, it was frequently banned: Catherine the Great put a stop to the
use of Ukrainian at one of eastern Europe’s most ancient universities,
The Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. Then Peter I banned the printing of books in
Ukrainian. Later the Russian Orthodox church took Ukrainian language
manuals out of schools. Alexander II forbade the import of books in
Ukrainian; Alexander III banned the use of Ukrainian in official
institutions.

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