A private clinic in Lviv refused to book a man an appointment because of the Russian language

An administrator at a private clinic in Lviv refused to book a man an appointment with a doctor because he was speaking Russian.

This was reported by the Ukrainian outlet Strana.ua.

The man recorded his conversation with the clinic employee on camera. He asked the woman to repeat whether she was indeed refusing to speak to him in Russian. The woman confirmed it.

“I don’t understand you, I don’t speak [it],” the clinic administrator said, urging him to speak to her in Ukrainian.

In the end, the man got angry and told her to “go f*** yourself.” After that, the phone conversation ended.

Earlier, a resident of Kyiv said that in local stores Ukrainians are threatened for using Russian speech. She claimed that speaking Russian is banned in all retail outlets in the capital, including kiosks, and that those who violate this requirement are treated very rudely.

In September last year, Ukraine’s language ombudsman, Olena Ivanovska, said that taxi drivers who speak Russian would be punished. Violators face a fine of 3,000 to 5,000 hryvnias (about $82.19–$123.28), she explained.