“Moscow does not insist on state status for the Russian language in Ukraine,” – said Lavrov

Russia is not insisting on Russian being granted state language status in Ukraine.

This was stated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in comments to Kremlin journalist Pavel Zarubin.

He was responding to recent remarks by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who said that Ukrainian would remain the country’s only state language.

According to Lavrov, Moscow instead demands that Kyiv repeal laws restricting the use of the Russian language and infringing upon the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC).

“He (Zelensky) said that Russian would not become a state language. But, frankly, no one is particularly insisting on that. The first step, which does not depend on Zelensky’s wishes or anyone else’s, is the repeal of all laws that, in gross violation of the UN Charter, banned the Russian language and the canonical UOC. He is trying to shift the focus of this issue, but he will not succeed,” the foreign minister said.

Earlier, Western media reported that Russia had demanded recognition of Russian as an official language during talks in Alaska — a demand Zelensky rejected.

Lavrov’s comments, however, suggest that Russia’s real priority is scrapping the Ukrainization law adopted under Petro Poroshenko, which forces Russian out of all public spheres.