President of Ukraine criticizes language resolution

In an interview with Kharkiv journalists, Victor Yushchenko said a resolution to recognize Russian as a second regional language recently passed by the Kharkiv City Council did not “correspond to Ukraine’s interests.”

The Head of State said our country’s language policy was never intenton discriminating against this or that language.

“Ukraine is a European country, and each citizen can freely choose what language he or she wants to speak,” he said, adding that he never received any complaints about language discrimination.

Yushchenko believes that the resolution passed by the Kharkiv City Council would not help to resolve the problem and described it asa “mere political game.”

“This artificial politicizationis inconsistent with Ukrainian interests,” he opined.

The President then said the local deputies should have dealt with the issue “more carefully.”

“I do not welcome such steps but they should also be legally analyzed,” he added.