MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th August, 2023) Hundreds of Ukrainians have signed a petition that calls on President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to have Russian language on his official website replaced with that of Crimean Tatars, an ethnic minority.
"Every Ukrainian citizen understands the Ukrainian language, even if they do not want to speak it, but if they want to receive information, they will be able to understand it in Ukrainian... The addition of the Crimean language will demonstrate our unity with Crimea," the electronic petition, published on the president's website, says.
At the time of writing, the petition received 1,225 votes of the 25,000 required for it to be considered by Zelenskyy's office. Another petition calling for the Russian language to be removed from the website gathered the required number of signatures within three days and is currently under consideration.
Russia has consistently criticized Ukraine for trying to assimilate its ethnic Russian population. Russians make up the largest ethnic group in Crimea, which was incorporated into Russia following a 2014 referendum.
