Russian Language To Gain Official Status In Kyrgyzstan

The Legislative Assembly /one of the houses of the Kyrgyz parliament/ has passed a bill of amendment to the country's Constitution envisaging official status for the Russian language on the territory of Kyrgyzstan. Yesterday, the bill was approved by the other house of the Kyrgyz parliament, the Assembly of People's Representatives. The idea of making Russian an official language of Kyrgyzstan came from the country's President Askar Akayev, who signed a law granting an official status to the Russian language early last year, thus prompting a group of Kyrgyz deputies to introduce corresponding amendments to the Constitution.