Ukrainians on Hunger Strike over New Language Law

July 17, 2012 from CNN

Hunger strikers in Kiev are fighting a new law that increases the status of Russian to a regional language in Ukraine, saying that Ukrainian language and culture will be threatened if the government approves the use of Russian in official institutions. Anger has increased at what many Ukrainians see as growing Russian influence in the former Soviet Union country. However, more than a third of Ukrainians do not use the language at all; most are ethnic Russians who welcome increased regional status of their native tongue.

(more) (less)

In This Video

Ukrainian language

Ukrainian is a member of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine and the principal language of the Ukrainians. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic script. The Ukrainian language traces its origins to the Old E... Explore this topic

Russian language

Russian ру́сский язы́к, russkij jazyk, pronounced is a Slavic language spoken primarily in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Moldova, Latvia, Estonia, and to a lesser extent, the other countries that were on... Explore this topic

Kiev

Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300, though higher numbers have been cited in the press. Kiev is an important industrial, scientif... Explore this topic

Ukrainians

Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens. Also among historical names of the people of Ukraine Rusyns, Russians, Cossacks, Tartars et... Explore this topic

Ukraine

Ukraine (English pronunciation /juːˈkreɪn/; Ukrainian: Україна, Ukrayina, /ukrɑˈjinɑ/) is a country in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the east, Belarus to the north, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary to the west, Romania and Moldova to the southwest, and the Black Sea and the... Explore this topic

Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics abbreviated to USSR or the Soviet Union, was a constitutionally communist state that existed between 1922 and 1991, ruled as a single-party state by the Communist Party with Moscow as its capital. A union of multiple subnational Soviet r... Explore this topic

Russian diaspora

The term Russian diaspora refers to the global community of ethnic Russians, usually more specifically those who maintain some kind of connection, even if ephemeral, to the land of their ancestors and maintain their feeling of Russian national identity within a local community... Explore this topic

CNN

Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by American media mogul Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States. While the news channel ha... Explore this topic

Also See

Ukrainian language

Russian language

Kiev

Watch Next

1:24

Ukraine: Ruling MPs Form Breakaway Parliament, Exclude Opposition

Euronews | Apr 4

There were scenes of turmoil in Ukraine's parliament when MPs from the ruling majority walked out, fed up with opposition blocking tactics. But the...