Ukrainian deputy Leonid Grach proposes to make Russian official language

Deputy of the Ukrainian Parliament (the Supreme Rada) Leonid Grach proposed to make Russian official language in Ukraine.

His statement "Heritage of Bogdan Khmelnitsky" released on Wednesday stresses that Ukraine is the home not only of 12.5 mln ethnic Russians but also of a great number of people who consider Russian their mother tongue. "It became the second mother tongue for millions of Ukrainians long ago," the statement says.

Moreover, Leonid Grach proposed to make an amendment to the Ukrainian Constitution that will be as follows: "Citizens are entitled to use the Ukrainian language as the state language and the Russian language as an official language while administering state affairs and in bodies of local self-government." Earlier the Crimean Supreme Soviet together with Lugansk Regional Council appealed to the Ukrainian Parliament to make the Russian language official one.