One of the justifications for the Russian invasion would be the harassment of Russian speakers. Vladimir Putin accuses Ukraine of banning the Russian language, but in fact it remains widely spoken throughout the country, and in particular in Dnipro.
With our special correspondents in Dnipro, Anastasia Becchio and Boris Vichith
In the street, in front of cash machines or in queues for blood donors, the Russian language is omnipresent. ” I am Russian speaking, explains a resident. I can also speak Ukrainian, but for me it’s easier to speak Russian. No one has ever persecuted me for this. Nobody ever asked me why I spoke Russian and nobody ever forced me to speak Ukrainian. »
“It’s a non-existent problem”
Today, Ukrainian is the only official language. The law imposes it in the administrations, the schools and the media, but in the facts, Russian is very present. Marina’s five children learn Ukrainian at school, but, like her, her youngest children speak Russian better. ” We speak both languages. My mother is Russian and I don’t understand how you can separate Russians and Ukrainians. I have a lot of Ukrainian-speaking customers and we understand each other: they speak Ukrainian, I answer them in Russian. We don’t take the lead : it is a non-existent problem, created from scratch. When we leave the cinema, for example, we are not able to tell if the film was in Ukrainian or in Russian, as we do not make a difference between these two languages. »
Many here repeat this message: We don’t need to be saved by Russia. »
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