24.06.2025, 12:29

In the occupied regions of Ukraine, the Russian Federation officially implements a policy of linguocide of the Ukrainian language

The Russian Ministry of Education has excluded the Ukrainian language from the school curriculum, the study of which as a native language was mandatory in the occupied territories of the Zaporizhia and Kherson regions. The order of the Russian department states that the decision was made in connection with the "changing geopolitical situation in the world," Kommersant reports, and Moscow Times. Russian Service writes.

It is noted that the Ukrainian language was taught in the illegally annexed Crimea, the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics, and Bashkortostan. In these regions, applications for study in the Ukrainian language had to be written by the parents of schoolchildren.

The new order applies to primary, secondary and secondary general education programs, which provide for the complete abolition of the Ukrainian language course. Currently, the Ukrainian language is studied as a native language for 736 hours. Of these, 260 hours are in grades 1-4, 340 hours are in grades 5-9, and 136 hours are in grades 10-11. The document also removes from the school curriculum the study of Ukrainian literature from grades 1 to 9, which is designed for 282 hours. This subject remains only for grades 10-11.

Russian political scientist Abbas Gallyamov called the Ministry of Education’s decision “infantilism.”

“It’s strange, but the same people who are trying to destroy the Ukrainian language in the territories they have captured demand respect for the Russian language in those territories that they cannot capture,” he wrote.

Let us recall that back in November 2024, Vladimir Putin stated that the Ukrainian language “has its own beauty and charm, like all Ukrainian culture.” He called for avoiding the imposition of the Russian language in the captured territories, recalling the negative experience of the USSR, and emphasized that the policy in this area should be “soft and natural.”

After the war began in 2022, the Russian dictator warned local authorities against attempts to ban the Ukrainian language, noting that Russia should not be like those who abolish any culture. Putin recalled that about 3 million Ukrainians live in the country.

“How can we ban their language and culture? We don’t even have such an idea in our heads,” he assured.

And in the spring of 2025, it became known that a new school textbook on Ukrainian literature had been censored in Russia. In particular, mention of everything related to Ukraine was cut out of it, in particular, about the origin of the writer Nikolai Gogol.

Even earlier, the Ukrainian folk song “Red Kalina” was blocked in Russia — Roskomnadzor saw “extremism” in it. There are also known cases where citizens were detained, fined, sent under arrest, and forced to apologize for listening to Ukrainian music.

Recently, “Voice of Crimea” wrote that on May 27, 2025, a presentation of a study on the topic: “Ukrainian language in education in temporarily occupied Crimea: from oblivion to discrimination” was held in the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv.

The study highlights the critical problem of violation of educational rights and systematic forced assimilation of Ukrainians in the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol. Based on the collected materials, five people were reported on suspicion under articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine - high treason and collaboration, and information about another 26 people was also transferred to law enforcement agencies. In total, data on 50 people involved in the destruction of education in the Ukrainian language on the occupied peninsula was documented.