MOSCOW. Dec 3 (Interfax) - The Ukrainian authorities should review their attitude toward ethnic minorities, Russian State Duma Chairperson Vyacheslav Volodin said.
"Those [in the Ukrainian leadership] who speak today from this position of intolerance - that should be left in the past in Ukraine, they should come to understand this as soon as possible, or they should correct themselves, which would be the right thing to do, as Ukraine is a country that is our friend," Volodin said at a Duma meeting on Tuesday.
"They should think over their behavior and the way they maintain their relations with the small ethnic groups living in Ukrainian territory. If we talk about the Russian-speaking people - how can you treat 36% of the Ukrainian population as an ethnic minority, just think about it. And just think how many Hungarians or Poles live there," he said.
The way the Ukrainian leadership responds to criticism of its ethnic policy is nothing but "death throes, an attempt to stay afloat and show that their masters from across the ocean still need them. That's it. They say: we will keep fomenting tensions with Russia - this is what they are preparing and offering themselves for. Their behavior fits precisely this pattern," Volodin said.
"We know like nobody else that respect for minorities' rights and guarantees are among the strengths of any nation. Because what's happening in Ukraine has been provoked in large part by [...] nationalists, those who don't respect their own people, and, as you can see, the Ukrainian people's choice speaks volumes: the parties that nationalists led and participated in have lost support," he said.
"Former Ukrainian president Poroshenko wasn't reelected [...], he wasn't supported by Ukrainians, [ethnic] Russians, or members of other ethnic groups, like Hungarians, Romanians, and Poles living in Ukrainian territory," Volodin said.
A few days ago, Volodin criticized Ukraine for what he described as "oppression" of ethnic minorities in the country and warned that this might prompt a number of Ukrainian regions to break away.
He made the remarks following an incident at the 12th session of a forum on minorities under the aegis of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, at which the Ukrainian delegation twice attempted to obstruct a speech by Ruslan Balbek, a Russian State Duma deputy from Crimea, and disrupted a speech by the head of the Ukrainian community of Crimea, Anastasia Gridchina.
Volodin's remarks drew harsh criticism from a number of Ukrainian government officials, particularly Interior Minister Arsen Avakov.