Ukraine might allow Russian language in courts

Under the current legislation, legal proceedings can be carried out solely in Ukrainian language.

"Legal proceedings solely in the state language create barriers and sometimes make it impossible to defend rights and interests protected by the law, which is a violation of the Ukrainian constitution's Article 55," a summary of the bill, published on the parliament's official website, said.

The bill, authored by Party of Regions lawmakers Serhiy Kyvalov and Vadym Kolesnychenko, was first introduced to the Supreme Rada in 2007, but was rejected. It allows a court to switch to Russian-language if both parties involved in legal proceedings show consent.

The summary stresses that the bill is not aimed at limiting the use of Ukrainian as a state language and contains no provisions which change its status.

Ukraine's president, Viktor Yanukovych, was elected in February on the back of strong support in the largely Russian-speaking south and east of the country, but was less popular in the more nationalist west.

He has said that he would like to make Russian a second state language, but the balance of power in the country makes it unlikely that any political force could secure the votes in parliament necessary to change the constitution; Kazinform cites RIA Novosti. See www.en.rian.ru