Russia funded promotion of "Kivalov-Kolesnichenko language law" in order to completely supplant Ukrainian, - Schemes

Russia funded the promotion of the so-called "Kivalov-Kolesnichenko language law" of 2012, which de jure granted the Russian language the status of a regional language in Ukraine, whilst de facto bringing its status closer to that of the state language.

This is according to an investigation by "Schemes" (a project of "Radio Liberty"), as reported by Censor.NET.

More on the "regionalists'" law

Journalists established that Russia sent funds both before and after the law was passed; these were directed towards public events, media articles and printed materials to exert "political pressure on the Ukrainian authorities".

As is well known, the co-authors of the language law were MPs from the "Party of Regions", Vadym Kolesnichenko and Serhii Kivalov. Under the law, languages spoken by more than 10% of a region’s inhabitants were granted "regional" status. In this way, Russian became a regional language in 13 of Ukraine’s 27 administrative regions.

The first million for promoting the "language law"

According to "Schemes", Kolesnichenko received funds from the Russian "Pravfond" for events supporting this language law both before and after its adoption in parliament.

In particular, in February 2012, six months prior to that, Kolesnichenko approached "Pravfond" with a request to provide 1.2 million roubles (around 41,000 dollars at the time) for the drafting, printing and distribution of an alternative report to the official one regarding Ukraine’s alleged failure to comply with a Council of Europe international treaty.

After the report was adopted, in 2013, "Pravfond" provided Kolesnichenko with a further 2 million roubles (around 65,000 dollars).

According to journalists, this money was allocated "for the publication of a brochure ‘for Russian compatriots’ in Ukraine containing instructions on how to apply the language law, which had only just come into force at the time". The brochure also explained how to use the Russian language in official correspondence, the courts and education instead of Ukrainian.

Mykhailo Tovt and Stepan Chernychko

For example, the MP’s report to the Council of Europe highlighted the absence of quotas for the Russian language in radio and television broadcasting and the lack of Russian-language schools, whereas the official report from the Ukrainian authorities, on the contrary, emphasised that Russian had almost displaced Ukrainian in various spheres of life in major cities, and that support for Russian perpetuated the totalitarian policies of the USSR.

Kolesnichenko’s report was co-authored by his assistant Ruslan Bortnik, whilst the foreword was written by his political ally in the "Party of Regions", Serhii Kivalov. The latter did not respond to questions from "Schemes", whilst Bortnik stated that he was unaware of Kolesnichenko securing funding for this report from the Russian Federation.

"Schemes" established that the anti-Ukrainian brochure was written by former MP Mykhailo Tovt and Stepan Chernychko — currently the rector of the Transcarpathian Hungarian Institute and a member of the Transcarpathian Regional Council.

According to documents published by the journalists, Chernychko and Tovt each received 5,000 hryvnias (equivalent to $600 at the time) from the "Pravfond" for the brochure.

Tovt, who is now referred to in the media as a constitutional lawyer and head of the "Svaliava Memorial Park" charitable foundation, also told "Schemes" journalists that he did not know who had funded the brochure on the use of the Russian language.