The mayor of the western Ukrainian city of Ivano-Frankivsk has announced language patrols due to the increasing use of Russian. “This is a citizens’ initiative and anyone can become a language inspector,” the city’s mayor, Ruslan Marzinkiw, told the NTA television station. Many people from eastern Ukraine in particular have Russian as their mother tongue. Marzinkiw expects at least 100 such language controllers, and almost 50 volunteers have already come forward. He also gave the number of a telephone hotline where citizens can complain about Russian speakers in public spaces.
“Unfortunately, we are now seeing an increase in the Russian language in the city and we want our city to be as Ukrainian-speaking as possible,” said the mayor, explaining the plan. In addition, the city is trying to popularize the national language, for example with Ukrainian courses. Marzinkiw admitted that these inspectors will not have any legal powers and can only give advice.
Systematic suppression of Russian since 2014
Since the pro-Western revolution in 2014, Russian, which has dominated the Eastern European country since Soviet times, has been systematically pushed out of public spaces, music, radio, television and the press.
Russia justified its invasion of the neighboring country in February 2022 with, among other things, the alleged protection of native Russian speakers. Due to the war, millions of people have fled, mainly from the Russian-speaking areas in the east and south of the country, to the relatively safe Ukrainian-speaking west or abroad.
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