MINELRES: Fwd: RFE/RL: Moscow Concerned about Language Restriction in Ukrainian Media

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Original sender: Snjezana Bokulic 

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RFE/RL: MOSCOW CONCERNED ABOUT LANGUAGE RESTRICTIONS IN UKRAINIAN
MEDIA


RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 6, No. 127, Part I, 10 July 2002
                 

MOSCOW CONCERNED ABOUT LANGUAGE RESTRICTIONS IN UKRAINIAN MEDIA. The
Russian Foreign Ministry expressed concern on 9 July over a decision
by Ukraine's National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting to
require that within the next year all domestically produced television
and radio programs be in Ukrainian. Foreign Ministry spokesman
Aleksandr Yakovenko said at a briefing, "basically this step limits
the right of the millions of ethnic Russians who live in Ukraine and
the many Ukrainians for whom Russian is their native language to
receive information in their primary language," Interfax reported.
Yakovenko added that such a measure contradicts the spirit of
Russian-Ukrainian cooperation, as well as international standards for
defending the rights of ethnic minorities, gazeta.ru reported.
Yakovenko also expressed the hope that Ukrainian officials will take
Russia's concerns over the issue into consideration. MD