The winner of the Ukrainian ‘Miss Ukraine Universe 2021’ contest, Anna Neplyah, reacted to criticism after lots of people started to blame her for presenting Ukraine but speaking in her personal blog in Russian.
A young woman from the Ukrainian city of Dnepr (former Dnepropetrovsk) won the title of ‘Miss Ukraine Universe 2021’ on October 15. Almost immediately after winning the contest, local activists began to criticize her on social networks (mostly Instagram) for using the Russian language in her blogs.
“In a day I’ve got a million accusations of speaking and writing posts in Russian (‘because I don’t speak Ukrainian’) in my blog where 90% of people are Russian-speaking. So, dear Sirs and Ladies, as you see, it’s possible to learn Ukrainian in one day. Because it’s your native language. And because you are intelligent enough to speak clear, beautiful language, without spoiling it with the mixture. Thus, I’d like to emphasize that I am a person that was raised in a Russian-speaking family, in a city where 90% of people speak Russian, so I deserve respect and the possibility to express my thoughts in a language convenient for me. Thank you for understanding,” said Neplyah.
As reminded, people’s aggressive reaction was most probably caused by the law “On Ensuring the Functioning of the Ukrainian Language as the State Language” (2019) that has been providing the exclusive use of the national language in almost all spheres of life of Ukrainians.
Ru-Main, 19.10.2021
Source: RIA Novosti
