KIEV, March 17 (RIA Novosti, Olga Bernatskaya) - The decision by the authorities of Ukraine's second largest city, Kharkov, to make Russian a regional language does not match the country's interests, the Ukrainian president said Friday.
"I do not welcome such steps," Viktor Yushchenko said speaking at Kharkov National University. "The court should provide legal appraisal of this [move]."
"This campaign does not correspond with Ukrainian interests," he said.
On March 6, the Kharkov City Council decided to grant the Russian language the status of a regional language referring to the European Charter of Regional Languages ratified by the Supreme Rada, the Ukrainian parliament.
