Permanent Representative of Russia to UNESCO R.Alyautdinov at the press conferenсe dedicated to International Mother Language Day:

💬Russia’s advanced positions in the field of multilingualism are visible in UNESCO, within the framework of the International Decade of Indigenous Languages ​​2022-2032. Anastasia Parshakova 🇷🇺 has been elected as Chairperson of IFAP working group on multilingualism.

📍Russia contributed to the adoption of Executive Board decisions, encouraging proclamation and celebration of language days.

📍In 2023, the Russian Language Day was celebrated at the Organization’s headquarters for the first time.

📍Russia is a multinational, multilingual country in which representatives of more than 190 peoples who speak different languages ​​live side by side within a single and integral territory. Preservation of native languages, history and culture is a key value of Russian society.

👉🏻Watch the press conference

🗓 On February 21, the world marks International Mother Language Day, first proclaimed by the General Conference of UNESCO on November 17, 1999 & formally recognized by the UNGA Resolution 56/262 in 2002.

Russia is home to more than 190 ethnic groups, speaking more than 270 languages & dialects. In the State Ethnic Policy Strategy of the Russian Federation until 2025, state support & protection of the culture and languages of the peoples of our country is considered one of the main principles of the state ethnic policy:

🔹 Through legislation, Russia guarantees all its peoples equal rights to preserve & comprehensively develop their mother language & freedom to choose & use their language of communication. It recognises that all languages spoken in Russia have an equal right to preservation & development;

🔹 It is compulsory to study a mother language at primary & secondary schools;

🔹 The Law On Nomadic Schools was adopted, which made it possible to expand educational opportunities in an environment familiar to children of small indigenous peoples;

🔹 Centres for studying mother languages are being created in various regions of the country.

International Mother Language Day is intended to remind that language-based discrimination is unacceptable. Multilingualism is one of the main values of the UN & an important area of UNESCO’s activities.

❗️ Today, the Russian-speaking population of Ukraine & the Baltic states is being oppressed. Actions taken by the authorities of these states are aimed at eradicating the Russian language from all spheres of life despite the fact that it is the native language of many citizens. The Russian language is being systematically erased from the education & information space.

On December 10, the Ukrainian legislation adopted a law, which established total & indefinite discrimination against the Russian language in Ukraine. The Baltic States are pursuing a policy to completely expel the Russian language from their education systems in violation of international obligations.

🇷🇺 Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov takes part in the first plenary session of the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting

📍 Rio de Janeiro, February 21, 2024

🗓 February 22 marks the 10th anniversary of the unconstitutional coup d'etat in Ukraine — an event, which led to an armed civil conflict, essentially a war waged by the Kiev regime against its own people, and a deepest crisis of international and European security since World War II.

10 years have passed since the tragic and horrible events of February 2014. The residing "authorities" in Kiev, aka the Kiev regime, and their Western sponsors are, as per their usual m.o., are attempting to distort the truth, conceal true facts, and turn the timeline of those events, their substance upside down.

❗️ But the truth is stubborn; it tends to get revealed sooner or later.

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On the origins of Ukrainian nationalism, the crimes of the OUN-UPA, and the support of the West

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The most horrific events unfolded on 20 February: the still unidentified snipers began shooting on the Institutskaya Street in the centre of Kiev at both law enforcement and protesters. Euromaidan supporters and Western politicians, seized "the opportunity", blamed the legitimate authorities of Ukraine. No evidence of Yanukovich's involvement was provided, and there is none to this day. Unlike, the Maidan activists & the opposition who benefited the most and was seen smuggling weapons into the area <...>

On 21 February, in an attempt to avoid further bloodshed, Yanukovych signed an Agreement on the Settlement of the Political Crisis in Ukraine with the opposition (from the opposition's side — Vitali Klitschko (UDAR party), Arseniy Yatsenyuk ("Fatherland"), and Oleg Tyagnybok ("Freedom")), which was supported and guaranteed by the foreign ministers of Germany, France, and Poland. This document envisaged the creation of a government of national trust, constitutional reform, and the organization of early presidential elections. None of the Agreement's provisions were implemented.

The next day, on February 22, the Supreme Council passed a resolution on Viktor Yanukovych's "self-removal" from performing the duties of the President of Ukraine, thereby usurping power (although he remained a legitimate president, remained in Ukraine and had made no statements regarding resignation). It was then announced that the "government of the victors (winner)" would be formed. The West turned a blind eye to all violations and hurried to declare a "change of power" in Ukraine, openly encouraging the putschists to pursue their anti-Russian policy. What ensued was basically a hunt for the remaining law enforcement officers and officials loyal to their oath and the country. <...> The very next day, the very first decision of the new "government" through the Verkhovnaya Rada was to revoke the law on the status of the Russian language, which according to data was back then the mother tongue of the majority (!) of the Ukrainian citizens.

<...>

The "mediation" meddling of the West led to a sharp polarisation of Ukrainian society, which created the preconditions for an armed civil conflict. The first legislative steps of the "Maidan victors" — the abovementioned cancellation of the language law — were received with alarm in South-Eastern Ukraine, where spontaneous formation of popular militia forces began. Kiev immediately accused all the inhabitants of the region of "state treason" and "terrorism", threw the army and neo-Nazi punitive battalions to violently suppress the protests.

<...>

‼️ "Euromaidan" created a deep rift in Ukrainian society, lead to persecution, fight against dissent, spread of nationalism and neo-Nazism, legal lawlessness and nihilism, fighting the Russian language and own history, complete degradation of the socio-economic situation in the country.

The terror and horror brought by the Ukrainian neo-Nazis and nationalists in 2014 must be brought to an end. Denazification and demilitarisation will be achieved.

📖 Read more about these tragic events of 2014 in our article.

📄 Foreign Ministry Spox Maria Zakharova's comment on the crisis in Ukraine