Russian government officials will now be banned from using foreign words when carrying out their respective duties. According to the amended law, the officials will be bound to formally use Russian. President Vladimir Putin signed the order on Tuesday.
As per the text on the Russian government’s official website, the amendments to the 2005 law are designed to ‘protect and support the status of Russia.’
Reuters reported the text specifies that “when using Russian as the state language of the Russian Federation, it is not allowed to use words and expressions that do not correspond to the norms of modern Russian … with the exception of foreign words which do not have widely-used corresponding equivalents in Russian.”
The government commission will put together a procedure that will compile and endorse a list that issues the requirements for such publications, and dictionaries that will also be approved by the cabinet.
Before this law, it was also against the law to use words and phrases that didn’t conform to the norms of the modern literary Russian language, including obscenities.
The amendments do not mention any punishments for individuals who fail to follow the updated law. However, according to Reuters separate list of foreign-based words that can still be used will be published separately.
The list of these words will be published in dictionaries and reference books.
Recently, the Russian authorities also imposed a fine on Wikipedia worth two million roubles ($27,000) over “misinformation” about the military units.
(With inputs from agencies)
