- New study reinforces theory Covid emerged at Chinese market
- World Bank boosts climate financing by 10 percent
- Bagnaia eyeing summit on home ground in 100th MotoGP
- 'Something was wrong', defendant in French mass rape tells court
- Hezbollah chief admits 'unprecedented' blow in device blasts
- Sales of US existing homes slip slightly in August
- Fear, panic haunt Lebanese after devices explode
- Labuschagne sparks Australia fightback in England ODI opener
- S.Africa's HIV research power couple says fight goes on
- Why is Israel focusing on border with Lebanon?
- Mpox vaccines administered in Rwanda, first in Africa
- US Fed rate cut is 'very positive sign' for economy: Yellen
- Unknown Mozart string trio discovered in Germany
- 'Are we five-year-olds?' F1 drivers won't mind their language
- Brazil judge orders X to reimpose block or face hefty fine
- Munich to rename stadium street after Beckenbauer
- Champions Italy to face Argentina in Davis Cup Final 8
- The winding, fitful path to weight loss drug Ozempic
- Italians defeat American Magic to reach Louis Vuitton Cup final
- Norris has 'nothing to lose' as he hunts Verstappen in Singapore
- Kyiv 'outraged' at Swiss showing of Russian war film
- French city renames Abbe Pierre square after abuse claims
- Footballer charged after huge cannabis seizure at UK airport
- Vatican recognises Medjugorje shrine, but not Virgin's messages
- Israel bombs Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon after wave of deadly blasts
- Bank of England freezes rate after jumbo US cut
- Playing Nadal is 'kind of a nightmare', says Alcaraz
- Portugal tackles last of deadly northern forest fires
- Ton-up Ashwin lifts India to 339-6 against Bangladesh
- Departing NATO chief warns US against 'isolationism'
- Coming winter 'sternest test yet' for Ukraine energy grid
- Evacuations as tail of Storm Boris floods northeast Italy
- Lebanon's Hezbollah reeling after second wave of deadly blasts
- Taiwan recognises same-sex marriages between Chinese, Taiwanese
- Stock markets rally after jumbo US rate cut
- Gabon's ousted leader Bongo says renouncing politics for good
- Lebanon device blasts: what we know about deadly attacks
- Equity markets rally after jumbo US rate cut
- Late Harrods owner Al-Fayed accused of rape: BBC
- Hong Kong man sentenced 14 months for wearing 'seditious' T-shirt
- Lebanon's Hezbollah in disarray after second wave of deadly blasts
- Equity markets, yen rally after jumbo US rate cut
- Meta and Spotify blast EU decisions on AI
- Hasan takes three as Bangladesh rattle India in first Test
- Two killed during police operation in New Caledonia
- Flood-hit region leaders to meet in Poland to discuss EU aid
- Sri Lanka to vote in first poll since economic collapse
- Hong Kong probe finds Cathay Airbus defect could cause 'extensive' damage
- AI development cannot be left to market whim, UN experts warn
- All Blacks primed for 'hell' of a Wallabies clash
RBGPF | 5.79% | 60.5 | $ | |
RYCEF | 5.48% | 6.93 | $ | |
CMSC | -0.14% | 25.02 | $ | |
AZN | 0.86% | 79.265 | $ | |
GSK | -1.05% | 41.99 | $ | |
NGG | -1.77% | 68.83 | $ | |
RIO | 3.53% | 65.215 | $ | |
BTI | -0.68% | 37.625 | $ | |
SCS | -7.1% | 13.175 | $ | |
CMSD | 0.1% | 25.005 | $ | |
BCC | 3.96% | 142.71 | $ | |
RELX | 1.48% | 48.08 | $ | |
BCE | -0.55% | 35.415 | $ | |
VOD | -1.64% | 10.065 | $ | |
JRI | -0.07% | 13.43 | $ | |
BP | 1.8% | 33.025 | $ |
Ukraine's star author Kurkov says his native Russian should be curbed
Ukraine's bestselling Russian-speaking author Andrey Kurkov says it is "immoral" to defend the Russian language in the ex-Soviet republic during soaring tensions with Moscow.
Kurkov's often absurdist works -- tinged with humour about the misplaced oddities of life -- have been translated into more than 30 languages and become international hits.
He is most famous for the early post-Soviet "Death and the Penguin" novel about a despondent obituary writer.
But he is also a popular political commentator who has strong views on a Ukrainian language law that Russian President Vladimir Putin is using in his attempts to cast Kyiv's pro-Western leaders as persecutors of ethnic Russians.
"In the context of our current relations with Russia, it is immoral to talk about the privileged place of the Russian language," Kurkov told AFP in Russian.
The 60-year-old native of Russia's Leningrad region outside Saint Petersburg speaks Ukrainian without an accent and has written some of his film scripts and children's books in Ukrainian.
But he views Russian as his native language and uses it for most of his works.
"I write in Russia, I speak on TV in Russian or Ukrainian. It does not create problems," he said.
"At the moment, the firm language policy is justified."
- 'Balance' -
The new language law requires Russian-language publications to be accompanied by Ukrainian versions of equal size and circulation as of last month.
Newsstands must also offer at least half their content in Ukrainian.
Human Rights Watch believes the law raises "concerns".
"The Ukrainian government has every right to promote its state language and strengthen its national identity," the New York-based rights group said.
"But it should ensure a balance in its language policy, to avoid discrimination against linguistic minorities."
Kurkov views the law as a natural progression of Ukraine's society. He also has no qualms about Russian no longer being taught in schools.
"The next generation of Ukrainians will be bilingual, but will not be able to write in Russian," he predicts.
The Soviet Union tried to build a socialist society out of 15 multi-ethnic republics that were all forced to learn Russian in schools.
"The process of Ukraine's Russification lasted for 70 years," Kurkov says. "We are witnessing the return of Ukrainian to its territories, a process that can take between 50 and 100 years."
- Collective vs individual -
Kurkov is now working on the third part of a historical detective novel about life in Kyiv in 1919.
Ukraine gained fleeting independence that year before being swallowed up by the Bolshevik Revolution.
He views the current threat of an invasion by more than 100,000 Russian troops who have surrounded Ukraine from nearly every side as one of the hard realities of life that will not permanently alter his country's course.
"There might be a war, but not a total loss of independence," he said.
Kurkov thinks Ukraine and Russia are so fundamentally different they cannot coexist.
"Russians like tsars and the one-party system, like in Soviet times or with (Putin's ruling) United Russia party now," he said.
"In Ukraine, we have 400 registered political parties. Every Ukranian wants to found his own political party because he does not agree with others."
Russians subscribe to the "collective mentality," he said. "Ukrainians are individuals."
- 'Accustomed to war' -
Kurkov's most recent translated work -- called "Grey Bees" in English -- follows the path of a beekeeper through the simmering conflict that has claimed more than 14,000 lives across swaths of Ukraine's Russian-backed separatist east.
Ukrainians have been living with this war since a 2014 pro-EU revolution toppled a government backed by Moscow that was ranked as one of the 30 most corrupt in the world.
Kurkov believes the years of tumult have steeled Ukrainians' resolve.
"There is neither psychosis nor panic. Everyone just gets on with their lives," he said.
"The real shock was in March 2014, when everyone in Ukraine watched a session of the Russian parliament overwhelmingly vote in favour of allowing the Russian army to wage war on foreign territories," he said.
The vote gave Putin the political cover needed to back the insurgency in eastern Ukraine.
"Today, people are accustomed to the fact that there is a war," he said.
K.Thomson--BTB