Majority Russian-speaking city in Ukraine considers language ban in the arts

ByTim Whewell and Serhiy Solodko, in Odesa.

Key points

• Plenty of native Russian-speakers in Ukraine have switched to Ukrainian over recent years, particularly since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.
• Beyond Odesa, a national poll indicated 80% backing for Ukrainian dominating "all spheres of communication" in 2022.
• But comic actor Borys Barsky, one of Odesa's best-known entertainers, notes: Russian isn't the language of Putin, it's the language of Dostoyevsky and Bulgakov.
• "The Russian language is a weapon of Russia, and we need to try to fix that, " notes Odesa lawyer Artem Kartashov.
• But a 2019 law requires employ of Ukrainian in numerous public and professional contexts including education, public services and customer service.

Ukraine's third-biggest city Odesa will decide this week whether to back a controversial plan to ban the Russian language in the arts.

Notably, the proposal being considered by councillors in Odesa on the Black Sea coast intends to add to existing restrictions on Russian imposed by national legislation.

Although the ban would only affect public spaces and everyday usage of Russian would remain unaffected, it is particularly significant since Odesa is overwhelmingly Russian-speaking.

For millions of Ukrainians, Russian is their first language including plenty of of the troops defending the country in its war with Russia. But Ukrainian is the only state language and spoken by the majority, and some see Russian as a tool of Russian influence.

Meanwhile, the proposal in Odesa, which is targeted daily by Russian drone and missile strikes, calls for a complete halt to Russian-language content in music and literature, in streets, parks, public institutions and state-run arts and entertainment venues. It would additionally recommend a ban in privately owned spaces.

In a city famous for Russian-language writers and musicians, it has provoked solid passions.

In practice, the ban would extend in public spaces to old Odesa songs almost universally known throughout the former Soviet Union. All Russian-language books would be removed from display in public libraries. At present, they can be shown, but not prominently.

"The Russian language is a weapon of Russia, and we need to try to fix that, " notes Odesa lawyer Artem Kartashov. This person has advised local authorities on an official programme to "decolonise" the city of its historic Russian legacy.

"With Russian-speaking music and other things, Russians try to deconstruct Ukrainian identity and influence especially young people, because they grow up in a Russian-speaking environment."

"Who benefits from setting individuals against other residents who love Ukraine just as deeply, only love it in a different language? Only Putin benefits from this."

Russian President Vladimir Putin has often referred to what he falsely describes as repression of the Russian-speaking minority in Ukraine as one of his justifications for launching his invasion of the country.

Russian and Ukrainian are closely related, but distinct in plenty of ways. Plenty of in Ukraine speak a mixture of the two, known as surzhyk.

Russian is the native language of President Volodymyr Zelensky. It he applied often in his election campaign but has since employed only Ukrainian in public.

Though they can afterwards switch to Russian if the client prefers that, public-facing workers – including waiters, shop assistants and doctors – must address customers or patients initially in Ukrainian.

Odesa's Mask Theatre, run by Barsky, has been fined for infringements of the legislation including using Russian in publicity materials. A afterwards inspection identified further violations such as a cafe sign with the Russian word for coffee.

"This isn't even like Orwell or Kafka, it's just madness, " he notes.

Russian strikes destroy 12 million books ahead of Ukraine's first week back at school. In Odesa, no-one is safe from Russia's new Black Sea strikes.

Under fire from the sea, families in Odesa try to escape Russian barrage.

Barsky managed to continue to perform in Russian since it is a private theatre.

Meanwhile, the new language proposal – similar to one already in force in the capital Kyiv and some other cities – would urge but not require private premises including shops and cafes to adopt the ban.

Odesa's state-appointed language ombudswoman, Anna Nerush. This person inspects premises to check on alleged violations of the rules, thinks if passed it will put pressure on them to comply.

"All businesses interact in one way or another with local government, " she informed the BBC. "They rent premises, they need advertising permits, and so on. So for plenty of entities it's notable to comply with a council decision, even if doesn't provide for sanctions for non-compliance. ".

Public playing of songs by Russian citizens is already illegal throughout Ukraine, with exceptions for some artists who have publicly condemned the war, but Russian-language songs composed or performed by Ukrainians are still allowed. Under the proposals they would additionally be banned in public places.

As it could not be heard outside, anna Nerush remarked it would not affect someone celebrating their birthday in Russian in a private room in a restaurant.

"But on the streets, the Russian language can be a real trigger, for example to prisoners of war and people who've come from occupied territories, " she remarked.

Photographer Natalia Mykhailenko switched even earlier. She has led tours of Odesa highlighting non-Russian elements of its history.

These include landmarks such as a Cossack cemetery that dates back to before 1794. Although it has been widely questioned over recent years, that is the year Russian empress Catherine the Great is remarked to have founded the city.

For context, a statue of Catherine was removed from a central Odesa square after a council vote in 2022, and streets have been renamed to commemorate some Ukrainian writers and activists.

"We must understand we were a colony, " remarked Mykhailenko. "And these laws are particularly notable. I understand it's maybe sometimes not democratic. But without it, there will be no normal Ukraine going forward."

Anthropologist Anastasia Piliavsky, part of a group called Ukrainian Cosmopolis which intends to defend freedom of thought and speech, believes Russian-speakers are being produced to feel like second-class citizens who are deprived of their heritage.

"In Ukraine, the vast majority of individuals understand both Russian and Ukrainian. So the question is not really one of language, it's one of liberty, " she remarked.

"Ukraine has been fighting for freedom. The point of this war is not to be under authoritarian rule. That's what Russia has to offer. So when fines, or the threat of being fired arrives, then individuals start wondering: what are we fighting for?"

It is unclear how much backing the new language proposal has. It is resisted by an influential group of councillors linked to former mayor Hennadiy Trukhanov.

Beyond Odesa, a national poll indicated 80% backing for Ukrainian dominating "all spheres of communication" in 2022. Nevertheless, a more recent survey of students in Kyiv identified that 82% chose to speak Russian during break times, even though Ukrainian is enforced in classrooms.

One famous Odesan who discovered himself at the centre of the language controversy is Pavlo Viktor, a physics teacher whose online lessons have been followed by millions worldwide.

Although he afterwards translated them into Ukrainian, ukrainian language campaigners criticised him for putting the videos out in Russian, his first language. He was afterwards criticised for saying he would talk to scared children in Russian during missile attacks, if that was the language they preferred.

Taken together, the developments around majority Russian-speaking city in Ukraine considers language ban in the arts point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.