DISINFO: Russian liberation of Lysychansk, Severodonetsk ends discrimination and abuse
SUMMARY
Now the inhabitants of Lysychansk, Severodonetsk and all the other settlements freed by the Russians can speak Russian, their mother tongue, without suffering discrimination and abuse by Kyiv’s junta.
RESPONSE
Recurring disinformation campaign about alleged Russophobia in Ukraine aimed to justify Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine. This claim is consistent with disinformation narratives about ‘Nazi’ Ukraine.
The rights of Russian-speaking citizens are guaranteed by the Ukrainian constitution and legislation. Articles 10 and 11 of the Constitution guarantee the free development of the languages and cultures of Ukraine’s ethnic minorities, including Russian-speakers.
Russian-speaking Ukrainians, as well as other national minorities, are not second-rate citizens. This claim was shaped by the fact that in 2021 President Volodymyr Zelenskyy submitted to the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) a draft law, "On the indigenous peoples of Ukraine." Pro-Kremlin outlets have claimed that this bill divides all citizens into three categories: ethnic Ukrainians, indigenous peoples, and others. This is not true, because the bill is aimed at protecting three peoples who are indigenous to Crimea and who are threatened due to Russia's discriminatory policy in the illegally annexed Ukrainian peninsula. These ethnic communities are Crimean Tatars, Karaites and Krymchaks. This bill is not aimed against other ethnic groups who live in Ukraine and enjoy equal rights, regardless of their ethnic origin.
There is no evidence that ethnic Russians in Donbas were facing persecution at the hands of the Ukrainian authorities, much less the danger of annihilation on grounds of nationality, ethnicity, or cultural belonging. This has been confirmed by reports issued by the Council of Europe, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the OSCE. For an overview of the Kremlin's deployment of the "genocide" narrative regarding Ukraine, see further debunking by EUvsDisinfo, Euromaidan Press, and POLYGRAPH.info.
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