DISINFO: In Ukraine, it will be forbidden to communicate in Russian from January 2021
SUMMARY
From January 16, 2021 it will be necessary to use the state language when ordering a cup of coffee, buying medicine. The so-called “language ombudsman” Taras Kremin underscoredthat from January 16, 2021, the service sector should switch exclusively to the Ukrainian language.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring pro-Kremlin propaganda narrative about the alleged discrimination of Ukraine's Russian-speaking minority and the country's ubiquitous Russophobia.
This is one in a series of news stories with false and manipulative headlines. The Russian language will not be banned in Ukraine. In Ukraine, service workers must start a conversation in Ukrainian from January 16, 2021, but they can change the language of communication at the request of the client. This is a quote taken out of context by the Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language Taras Kremlin. He recalled that "at the request of the client, his/her personal service can be carried out in another language."
Read the similar case, Rights of Russian-speaking people are violated in the Baltic States and Ukraine.