Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada has for the fourth time supported the law giving the Russian language the status of a regional language of the country. Back in May, the discussion of this extremely sensitive issue had led to a public fight in the Verkhovna Rada.

      In the event of the law being signed by the President Yanukovich, Russian language will become officially spoken in 13 regions. It will also become a secondary language in Kiyv and Sebastopol. The draft law was adopted by the Parliament in early July when it was decided to make Russian language official for those regions where at least 10 per cent of population are native speakers.

      Since the demise of the Soviet Union, Russian speakers have been experiencing cultural problem, especially relating to language, in Ukraine and the Baltic states. A last year's referendum to give Russian language the status of national in Latvia did not go through the Latvian Parliament.