Russian propaganda systematically claims that there are many people in Ukraine who communicate only in Russian. Like, the Russian language prevails Ukrainian in daily use. Propagandists often speculate on this issue: they assure that the Russian language is discriminated against in Ukraine, hindering its development, not protecting the “Russian-speaking population”, etc. And they assure that “Russian-speaking Ukrainians” need Moscow's protection.

Russia has promoted the notion of a “Russian-speaking population” since the beginning of Ukraine's independence. So Russian propaganda sought to prove that Russian dominates everywhere, while Ukrainian is not so common and, in general, its consumption is inherent in residents of villages or small towns. That is, he imposed an inferiority complex on Ukrainians and tried to popularize Russian, portraying it as more prestigious.

Propagandists call for “protection of the Russian-speaking population” to justify unprovoked aggression and a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. According to them, the so-called harassment of the “Russian-speaking population” is taking place, so this category of people needs to be protected. The “protection” of the Russians is manifested in the daily rocket attacks on Ukraine and the murder of its citizens.

“Aren't Ukrainians insolent? These are our [territories of Ukraine temporarily occupied by Russia. - Ed.] lands, with a native Russian-speaking population. We will defend these territories to the end”, the authors explained in the social networks of the Russian segment the importance of Russian-speaking people for the Kremlin.

So, Russia perceives the Russian language as a means of influencing people, instrumentalizes it in every possible way. In the understanding of propagandists, knowledge of the Russian language means a loyal attitude towards Russia. In the end, the language policy in Ukraine was quite a compromise, but the Kremlin itself politicized the language issue in Ukraine. For example, in the context of a full-scale invasion, 57% of Ukrainians switched to the Ukrainian language of communication with Russian. And they did it deliberately. Expecting one effect (strengthening public opinion about the “harassment” of Russian-speaking people), we got a different result - a segment of Russian-speaking people independently switched to Ukrainian.

“Russian-speaking population” is just a political term used by Russia to achieve its own goals. In particular, to destroy Ukraine as a state, and Ukrainians as a nation. The massive use of the Russian language in Ukraine is a consequence of the imperial policy of Russia, which sought to Russify Ukrainians and deprive them of their identity. But for the first time since independent Ukraine, there was a linguistic surge. According to a survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, 80% of Ukrainians are in favor of the predominance of the Ukrainian language in all areas. This testifies to the positive dynamics of the attitude of Ukrainians to the language. In the field of education, media, services, and even public speeches by top officials, Ukrainian is becoming more and more in demand.