Actress Kadochnikova refused to switch to Ukrainian at the award ceremony

Ukrainian theater and film actress Larisa Kadochnikova, who played Marichka in the film "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors", refused to switch to Ukrainian during her speech at an award ceremony. This was reported by "Strana.ua" on January 12.

It is specified that during the performance at the award ceremony named after Sergei Parajanov the actress spoke in Russian, but from the hall she was interrupted with a shout "In Ukrainian, please!", but the 88-year-old actress refused.

"In Ukrainian, I play in the theater. You excuse me, but I have the right to speak at least in English. Do you hear? Respect me," - said Kadochnikova, receiving in response mass applause from the audience.

The publication noted that the actress was demanded to switch to Ukrainian by activist Ruslan Koshovenko, who afterwards insulted the actress and was surprised that the whole hall jumped on him.

Earlier, on October 24, Spyridon Kilinkarov, a former MP of Ukraine and a member of the international public movement "The Other Ukraine", pointed out in a conversation with Izvestia that the Russian-speaking population in the west of the country is increasing. The so-called Ukrainization, the pressure on the Russian-speaking population by Kiev, has become one of the causes of the conflict in Ukraine, and the local authorities have not made the right conclusions, he specified.

In December 2023, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine passed a bill on national minorities, tightening restrictions for the use of the Russian language in the country. Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a law banning the Russian language on May 15, 2019.