Estonian President Alar Karis said on Wednesday that the Ukraine crisis should not be a reason to boycott the Russian language despite calls among part of the public in Estonia
HELSINKI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th January, 2023) Estonian President Alar Karis said on Wednesday that the Ukraine crisis should not be a reason to boycott the Russian language despite calls among part of the public in Estonia.
"Language is a tool. I see no reason to fight languages. Russian itself is a cultural language. And Russian should be learned earlier than other languages because it has a different alphabet and is more difficult to master. There is no reason to fight against languages, just as there is no reason to fight against Russian literature," Karis said in an interview with Estonian channel ETV+.
The Estonian president believes any change in attitudes toward the Russian language is temporary.
"I know Russians who no longer want to speak Russian because of the war in Ukraine. Ukrainians who used to speak Russian reject Russian. But this is a temporary phenomenon, a reaction caused by the war today. You cannot blame the language for anything," Karis added.
In August, Estonian education Minister Tonis Lukas said that Russian as a second foreign language should be abolished in Estonian schools. According to him, due to the events in Ukraine, some parents expressed dissatisfaction that their children have to learn Russian.
The discrimination of the Russian-speaking population was one of the reasons that had led to a civil war in Ukraine, which resulted in the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics declaring their independence from Kiev and eventually appealing to Russia for help in defending themselves against Ukrainian aggression in February 2022.
On February 24, Russia began a military operation in Ukraine responding to calls for help from the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. Moscow said that the aim of its operation is the "demilitarization and denazification" of Ukraine.
