Maria Zakharova, the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, characterized the Ukrainian authorities as Nazis. In response to Mikhail Podolyak, an adviser to Ukraine’s presidential office, who stated that Ukrainians had “completely shut down everything that concerns the Russian cultural sphere”, Zakharova weighed in on the matter through her Telegram channel. She asserted that the Nazis are at full strength and noted that similar behavior had occurred in the past, with Western nations lending support and supplying weapons at the time, a point she framed as a continuation of a troubling pattern that previously went largely unchecked by Western powers.
In her post, Zakharova referenced Podolyak’s statements attributed to President Volodymyr Zelensky, highlighting what she described as calls not only to reject the Russian cultural sphere but also to disparage Russianness more broadly. She also acknowledged a nuance in which Russians living in Ukraine might still use the Russian language inside their households, a detail she described as a practical possibility even amid broader cultural restrictions. The exchange underscores a broader tension over language, culture, and national identity that has persisted across recent years.
Earlier reporting described another incident in which a Ukrainian university teacher faced dismissal connected to a Russian language lesson, illustrating the ongoing educational and cultural frictions that accompany the political discourse and the contested space of language instruction within the region.