Canada Could Share Experience With Ukraine on Language Policy, Russian Ambassador Says

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Canada, a country with two official languages, could share its experience with Ukraine, which has recently been enacting policies against the Russian language, Ambassador in Ottawa Oleg Stepanov told Sputnik.

Stepanov recalled that Canada was among the first to support the power change in Ukraine in 2014. Since then, the Canadian government has been turning a "blind eye" to the decisions of Kiev, including policies aimed at infringing on the rights of the Russian and Russian-speaking population, he said.

"To put it mildly, the short-sighted approach is especially surprising given the rich Canadian experience of a multinational [nation] and the harmonious coexistence of two official languages  within one country. Canada could share this positive experience with Ukraine. This could be a real contribution to the resolution of the conflict," the ambassador concluded.

Adopted in 2019, a new language policy in Ukraine requires television channels to broadcast at least 90% of their content in the Ukrainian language, and requires state-sponsored cultural events to be conducted in Ukrainian, despite Russian being the predominant language in large cities in the east and south of the country.