Viktor Yushchenko: Referendum on status of Russian language in Ukraine is purely political adventurism

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Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko calls political forces to avoid speculations on the subject of referendum on the language issue and Ukraine’s non-allied status. He made the statement yesterday, during his visit to Kiev Region, a REGNUM correspondent informs.

The Ukrainian president considers the initiative of the Regions Party to hold the referendum “political adventurism.” “To my mind, politicians and political forces, who are trying today, during the campaign for early elections to the Supreme Rada, to hold such a referendum, seek destabilization in the country. There has been an agreement between political forces not to raise such sensitive public issues during the election campaign. One must not show disrespect for the country, the public, to the political stability in the long run. I am surprised that the Regions Party has taken such position. Evidently, those were people who do not share our aspiration for stabilizing the political situation in the country and make steps incompatible with the political peace. I regret about this and I am bewildered that the prime minister is pursuing such policy,” the Ukrainian president said.

He reminded that the issue of assigning the state language status to Russian has been sounded for many tears already, since Leonid Kuchma’s presidency. “Every time elections are held, the subject of the Russian language status appears,” Viktor Yushchenko noted.

“Actually, nobody is going to amend the constitution. They just want to make the people think of them as a political force that really wants to pose the question and change it. Evidently, the political adventurism is the gist of such initiatives and nothing more,” the Ukrainian president concluded.