The draft law “On Languages in Ukraine” has been registered in the Supreme Rada (parliament) of Ukraine. According to the document, Ukrainian is only official language of the country, ITAR-TASS reports. At the same time, the document guarantees free use of other languages, including Russian, said Vadim Kolesnichenko, a member of of the Rada and president of the human rights public movement “Russian-Speaking Ukraine,” reported on Wednesday.

A separate article of the draft law deals with the use of Russian, because it is the native language or a language for everyday communication for a large portion of the residents of the country.  The document “lifts restrictions on free use of the Russian language in all the main spheres of public life – TV, advertising, film-making, work of local government bodies, the administration of justice and education. People will be given an opportunity to be educated in their native language – from the nursery school to the university,” Kolesnichenko said.

The document, submitted by the ruling coalition, he continued, “was drafted on the basis of the proposals of MP Yevgeny Kushnarev, who died a tragic death three years ago.” The draft law says that “a free use of languages in private and public life is the inalienable right, in accordance with the principles, recorded in the U.N. International Pact on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention of the Council of Europe on the protection of the basic human rights and freedoms, as well as the European Charter of Regional Languages or Languages of Minorities,” Kolesnichenko said. In his opinion, the draft law “brings Ukraine closer to the European standards.”