Speaking Russian at work led to reports against two employees of Odesa institutions

Speaking Russian while performing their official duties has led to administrative reports being drawn up against two employees of municipal institutions in Odesa — the Municipal Enterprise “Miskzelentrest” and the Advertising Department of the Odesa City Council. Anna Nerush, a representative of the Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language, reported these cases on facebook.com.

A complaint against an employee of Miskzelentrest was filed after a video showed her speaking Russian at work. According to the woman, the conversation took place during a confrontation with a man who introduced himself as the owner of a street-trading facility.

“The employee acknowledged that, due to the emotionally difficult situation, she used several phrases in Russian. She also stated that all other communication, which was not captured on video, took place exclusively in Ukrainian,” the report says.

Another video recorded an employee of the Advertising Department of the Odesa City Council speaking at work with acting deputy mayors. She spoke Russian. The woman explained that she had switched to Russian because of her emotional state during an air raid alert, and because the officials had addressed her in Russian themselves.

In both cases, the reports were drawn up over a violation of Article 12 of the Law of Ukraine “On Ensuring the Functioning of Ukrainian as the State Language”. This provision requires Ukrainian to be used in the work-related communication of state authorities and local self-government bodies.

Deputies of the Odesa City Council also rejected a proposal to impose a moratorium on the public use of Russian-language cultural products. The restriction was intended to remain in force until the Russian occupation of Ukrainian territories had completely ended.

A complete ban on public performances of Russian-language songs and on showing films and other content in Russian is also being proposed in Ukraine, regardless of the performers’ citizenship. The proposal also includes penalties for venues that host such events.

We previously reported:

• Budanov to pay a fine for speaking Russian during clashes near Kyiv
• Public Russian-language content may be banned, regardless of performers’ citizenship
• Reports for speaking Russian filed against six session participants in Odesa region
• Russian language, signs and books: four reports filed against the Masks Theatre in Odesa
• Language scandal at a school: principal ignored the state language even at events