The Kharkiv Regional Council reports to the citizens, local government bodies and local authorities, that Russian was granted the status of regional language within Kharkiv region.
98 deputies of the Kharkiv regional council voted in favor of the decision. Three MPs voted against.
The decision stipulates in particular that now in Kharkiv region the acts of local government and local self-government bodies shall be approved in the national language or Russian and officially published in these languages.
Officials shall speak the state and Russian languages, the document says.
The decision also provides citizens with the right to receive education in Ukrainian and Russian, as well as with free use of the Russian language in the field of culture.
The Regional Council also proposed to the local councils to take all measures for the development, use and protection of Russian as regional in Kharkiv region, as well as other regional languages, if the number of their native speakers in the territory of the respective administrative-territorial unit makes up 10% or more of its population.
