LANGUAGE POLICY IN UKRAINE AS A FACTOR OF RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN RELATIONS

The article describes the process of Ukrainian authorities opting for the formation of a mono-linguistic strategy (after the collapse of the USSR), which was met with sharp rejection in Russia, and perceived as a tool for "reforging" the Russian population, which, as a result of the collapse of the USSR, found itself outside the borders of modern Russia. The materials of the article confirm the thesis that the Ukrainian language policy serves as a factor in the transformation of not only Ukrainian, but also Russian identity. The idea of protecting the Russian-speaking population acquired ideological forms, embodied in the concept of the “Russian world”. The article analyses the reaction of leading Ukrainian political actors to compromise solution of language issue, expressed in the adoption of the law on "regional languages" in 2012, which gives the right to regions and municipalities to use "languages of national minorities" along with Ukrainian. The abolition of the norm on regional languages in 2014 was one of the reasons for the confrontation between Russia and Ukraine; and the situation of 2022 has led to a new turn in the language policy in Ukraine, the use of the Ukrainian language as a key marker of identity and a resource for political struggle.