9/ Ultimately, Russia is doing this to further its own (illegitimate) claims that Ukraine is an inherent part of Russia on a linguistic basis. Read my latest Russian Occupation Update for @thestudyofwar.bsky.social to learn more: understandingwar.org/backgrounder...

8/ The Ukrainian MFA condemned this new draft law on the basis that supports Russia's genocidal strategy in Ukraine. mfa.gov dot ua/news/komentar-mzs-shchodo-zaboroni-rf-vivchennya-ukrayinskoyi-movi-v-shkolah-na-timchasovo-okupovanih-teritoriyah-ukrayini

7/ The choice to select Ukrainian language education is seen as an overtly "anti-Russian" decision. Occupation administrations are likely keeping close tabs on families who elect to have their kids learn Ukrainian, which puts immense pressure on families.

6/ I assessed at the time that Russian authorities would often claim that students in occupied areas of Ukraine have the “option” to continue to learn Ukrainian but that the majority of students "choose" not to. This minimizes the lengths Russia goes to to restrict access to Ukrainian language.

5/ Russia used similar tactics following the 2022 full-scale invasion. In fact, the Zaporizhia Oblast occupation administration banned "mandatory" Ukrainian language lessons in March 2023. This amounted to an effective ban on Ukrainian language education on a more local level.

4/ Russia cracked down on Ukrainian-language education during its first invasion of Ukraine in 2014. As a result, 214 total students (or 0.1% of all students) in occupied Crimea reportedly took Ukrainian in the 2020/2021 schoolyear. krippo.ru/files/22_07_...

3/ The thing is, Russia has already been significantly limiting Ukrainian-language education in TOT since 2014. This new draft order will basically codify total restrictions on native language instruction.

2/ The RU Education Ministry published a draft order detailing plans to exclude Ukrainian-language instruction at all educational levels due to "the changed geopolitical situation." Students will supposedly have the option to study Ukrainian on an extracurricular basis, but it's not that simple.

3/ Russia is actively recruiting teachers from throughout the Russian Federation to teach in occupied Luhansk Oblast as part of the “Zemskyi Uchitel” (“Rural Teacher”) program.

Read more from @karolinahird.bsky.social: isw.pub/OccupationUp...

I've also been keeping track of Russia's myriad human rights abuses and violations of international law in Crimea via biweekly Russian Occupation Updates: www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder...