Ban on Russian Music in the Service Sector: Fines from 8,5 thousand to 170 thousand UAH

The Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Humanitarian and Information Policy recommended that parliament adopt bills on protecting the Ukrainian language and penalizing Russian music in the service sector, the parliament’s press service reported.

The parliamentary committee supported a bill that changes the rules for the use of the state language.

The document provides for the following changes:

expanding the list of officials who are required to speak Ukrainian at work;

simplifying inspections and the review of complaints about violations of the language law;

additional protection of the language in education, culture, electoral processes, and the work of local authorities.

Committee Deputy Chair Yevheniya Kravchuk noted that international partners will be informed of these changes in advance to avoid accusations of restricting the rights of national minorities.

Lawmakers also supported a bill that introduces a ban on the playing of Russian music in establishments and the service sector and provides for the following fine amounts:

for a first violation – a fine from 8,5 thousand UAH;

for repeated violations – a fine up to 170 thousand UAH.

People’s Deputy Oleksandr Sanchenko explained that the ban on such music already exists, but without fines it does not work.

Committee Chair Mykyta Poturaiev emphasized that there is no place for Russian musical product in Ukraine.

In addition to language issues, the committee appealed to the Cabinet of Ministers with a call to help the book industry:

allocate funds for repairing the building of the Book Chamber, which was damaged by Russian shelling;

include funds in the budget for air conditioning for the book repository;

develop a support plan for publishers who lost property due to the full-scale war.

As Censor.NET reported, on 22 July a bill No. 15430 was registered in the Rada, initiated by People’s Deputy from the Servant of the People party Oleksandr Sanchenko.

Currently, for playing Russian music in establishments standard administrative protocols are applied with fines from 17 to 170 UAH.

In addition, the draft law provides for a change in the procedure for bringing persons to responsibility: the Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language will be able to impose fines on the spot – without the mandatory prior warning and without requiring the violation to be remedied.