Representatives of the Russian Diaspora in Ukraine set up a coordinating council on Tuesday. It will be chaired by Ukraine’s Parliament lawmaker Leonid Grach, ITAR-TASS news agency reports.

In an address to fellow citizens, the participants in the founding session of the All-Ukrainian Coordinating Council — which includes representatives of government bodies, politicians, activists of public organizations, scientists and artists — underlined that “cultural and language rights of the Russian-speaking population have been grossly violated in the recent years, including the right to receive secondary and higher education in the mother tongue.”

“The Russian language is gradually ousted from the public space of Ukraine, including by means of under funded Russian cultural centers, theatres, libraries and educational institutions,” the document said.

“This may evolve into civil confrontation based on ethnic grounds, which will pose a threat to the existence of the Ukrainian state,” it said.

The Coordinating Council intends to engage in “a civilized lobbying of laws, within the framework of the Ukrainian legislation, aimed at launching ethnic peace and accord in the society, and eliminating inequality in the language, cultural, religious and legal spheres.”

The members of the Coordinating Council stated they will strive for lending support and assistance to charity, cultural, educational, scientific and other organizations of compatriots,“ call for the ”restoration of historical and cultural succession between different generations of Ukrainian citizens and between CIS peoples,“ and contribute to the development of a single information, cultural and spiritual space.”

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