June 10 his TelegramChannel, Vyacheslav Volodin, spokesman for the lower house of the Russian parliament, wrote the bill. already preparedand held an online vote that phrased the question as follows:
“Do you think advertisements on the streets should be only in Russian and other official languages in the republics of the Russian Federation?”
At the time of publication, more than 117,000 people participated and 71% agreed. 17% of the participants were against it, while 12% were indifferent to this initiative.
“We must protect our Russian language”
The author of the bill is Elena Yampolskaya (United Russia), chairman of the Duma Committee on Culture. According to their estimates, about 80% of the signs in Moscow contain foreign words, and in the center of the Russian capital there are 30-50% more signs in English or Latin characters than in Russian. He believes that this is “disrespect for the Russian language and the homeland.”
Now the initiative awaits a response from the government. According to Yampolskaya, the bill is under review by the Ministry of Education and may need to be amended in the language law.
“I want this bill to be considered at the spring session,” said Volodin at a meeting in the State Duma. He talked about his trip to Yerevan, where “all signs and inscriptions are in Armenian”.
According to him, deputies are considering the “over-distribution” of English signs not only in Russia, but also in other languages of the world.
How will the ban work?
On the other hand, Vice President Pyotr Tolstoy argues that in this way Russia “will get rid of colonial dependence”. He did not specify when exactly Russia became a colony of someone.
Yampolskaya explained that the name of a trademark or product can be written in Latin letters, but with unprotected elements – only in Russian.
The bill should be delayed so businesses have one to two years to change signs, he added. At the same time, those who violate the new rule will be fined.
“I will freeze my ears in spite of my neighbor”
The lawyer, founder of the Shakhrai & Partners law firm Irina Shakhrai, does not share Yampolskaya’s opinion.
“I do not support this idea and find it absurd. It will only create additional serious problems that are already more than enough for entrepreneurs. And most importantly, innovation will not solve anything, neither economically nor in terms of patriotic education. Or will the bill force you to get some kind of permission and change the signs?
Think about what problem is being solved at the state level… Do we have any other problems in the country?
We already know that our state language is Russian, and we love it very much. But why can’t people with a registered trademark in English be able to use it? Let’s close the iron curtain then. But if parliamentarians want to support Russian literature in this way, it would be much more beneficial to direct their efforts towards increasing the efficiency of the educational process in educational institutions. Otherwise, all this resembles a saying: “My ears will catch cold in spite of my neighbor,” he said. IA “Infopovod”.
Commissioner for the Protection of Entrepreneur Rights in the Yaroslavl Region, Alfir Bakirov, poses the same question. According to him, the financial issue will come to the fore for the absolute majority of businessmen.
“Maybe, large retail chains and companies will be less responsive to the innovation, but for small businesses the problem will reach its zenith. The cafe owner has recently spent money on the development and design of a new sign, in any case coordinating it for a long time, installing it, and six months later. Imagine getting a dismantling order again.
All this will cause a flurry of anger among entrepreneurs, as a significant financial burden will fall on their shoulders and work will be added to the control and supervisory bodies.
“An order not fulfilled on time is still a fine.” YarNews.