"Gentle Ukrainization" needed after liberation of Crimea and Donbas – Minister of Culture

After the liberation of Crimea and part of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts from the Russian occupation, "gentle Ukrainization" will be needed there, said Oleksandr Tkachenko, Ukrainian Minister of Culture and Information Policy.

Source: Tkachenko said this in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

"[After the start of the full-scale war – ed.] Ukrainization took place rapidly and without state intervention. According to the same sociological surveys, it seems that more than 20% of the population, – and this is a huge number, – switched to communicating in Ukrainian in everyday life, voluntarily without any gentle or forced Ukrainization. Ukrainization of the cultural product took place instantly. All theatres that had Russian names in their names abandoned these names. And it seems to me that this is a completely natural process," said the Minister of Culture.

At the same time, he noted that in the case of territories that have been under Russian occupation since 2014, certain efforts may be required.

"We recently talked about Crimea, what steps should be taken. There, obviously, ‘gentle Ukrainization’ will be needed. Because Crimea has been under occupation for almost 10 years, and so were parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. Therefore, within the framework of dialogue, within the framework of establishing our understanding of the narratives that they use, our sometimes imaginary structures of how the population thinks and acts there, this will require a more delicate progress in order for Ukrainization to take place there," Tkachenko said.

Photo: Oleksandr Tkachenko / Facebook

The Minister stressed that this process will require delicacy. "The entire cultural sphere will require greater participation of mainland Ukraine in the processes that take place there. Above all, it is the language of dialogue. It is not a question that we should immediately make everything the same way it is in Lviv [the least Russified part of Ukraine – ed.], but will require a dialogue of explanation. Therefore, the language of dialogue for liberated territories, in my opinion, should be one of the most important," he said.

Tkachenko also said that Ukraine has developed a programme to popularise the Ukrainian language, but it has not yet been approved due to lack of funding. It involves the creation of mobile applications, a network of free courses, the promotion of the Ukrainian language, the creation of a Ukrainian-language cultural product, the popularisation of Ukrainian literature, in particular abroad.

"The programme draft has been developed, it is called ‘Strategy for popularising the Ukrainian language until 2030: Strong language – successful state.’ But there is one problem, which is the price of this program: UAH19.6 billion," the minister said.

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