“English is a dead language, it’s over”: Why does Russia want to remove foreign words from its society?

Since October 25, members of the Russian parliament have been drafting a law banning the use of foreign words on signs, merchandise, signs and posters in public places. The Duma representatives demanded that the latter be written in Cyrillic characters and that the latter be written in Latin. Picaro.

“Targeted Attack of Our Enemies”

“Why do we live in an environment where, on average, 70% of signs, inscriptions or notices are in Latin or Cyrillic but with English words?” asked Elena Yambolskaya, head of the Culture Commission in the Duma. And a staunch defender of the bill.

Already last January, Vladimir Putin signed a decree “Protecting the Russian language against excessive use of foreign vocabulary.”

This Tuesday, November 14, President of the Russian Federation Council (Senate) Valentina Matviyenko announced: “The Russian language is under targeted attack by our enemies” before adding: “In Ukraine, the Russian language is practically banned, even though it is their mother tongue for millions of people.

Another step towards Russification of the country

If passed, the law would mark a new step toward Vladimir Putin’s desire to Russify the country. Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin has repeatedly insisted that he wants to protect his country from the “corrupt West” that is trying to destroy Russia.

This new hybrid war led by Putin against the Western “threat” has already begun. Last May, Vyacheslav Volodin, the head of the Duma, declared: “English is a dead language, it’s finished… Let’s learn Chinese, our national language.”

At the beginning of the year, several Western brands established on Russian territory decided to leave following the Russification of their names.