posted by CKR
One thread in commentary on the situation in Ukraine is the question of a split between the western and eastern parts of the country and civil war.
Like other countries that were a part of the Soviet Union, Ukraine has a large Russian-speaking minority. Most of the Russian speakers live in the eastern part of the country. Viktor Yanukovich is one of these; he has learned Ukrainian relatively recently and is reported to make mistakes in grammar and pronounciation. Russian and Ukrainian are both Slavic languages, about as closely related as Spanish and Portugese.
During Soviet times, Russian workers were encouraged to move to other republics. Russian was promoted as the universal language and its study required in primary and secondary schools, but those Russian workers were not required to learn the languages of those republics. Ukraine’s pre-Soviet history is closely intertwined with Russia’s, as is its language. However, in western Ukraine, many perceived the displacement of the Ukrainian language as imperialistic.
A parallel Soviet practice was to provide leaders to the republics whose ancestry was in the republics but who had been educated in Russia. Most spoke no language other than Russian.
Estonia and Latvia have large Russian-speaking populations. The integration of these populations has been a concern since these countries became independent. Both countries require competency in their languages for citizenship. This requirement has been attacked by Russian-leaning groups as unreasonable, even though it is common in many countries. Some Estonian and Latvian practices relative to language did go too far, but the requirements of EU membership have softened this reaction to the Soviet imposition of Russian.
Both Estonia and Latvia now have active programs to integrate the Russian-speaking populations. Last summer I picked up a lovely map of Estonia with pictures of agricultural products, animals, and transportation, all named in Estonian, that is used to teach Russian-speaking children, who are also eligible for summer-camp experiences with Estonian children.
It is not hard to envision that Ukraine will follow the lead of Estonia and Latvia in dealing constructively with ethnolinguistic differences, especially given the Ukrainian ambition of joining the EU.