Originally Posted by
Beamr
Apparently the russian speakers are already fighting for another country within Ukraine.
It's a two- sided sword. Looking at the current situation I can understand that Russian speaking parts of the population are considered a potential threat by Ukarinian Government and Western Ukrainian population in general as well.
That said, history has shown that suppressing people's native language creates long- lasting hatred and separation tendencies. Give people some level of autonomy and you have a chance (but not a guarantee) that they will stick with you. Suppress them and you can be sure that one day the time will come for them to spin off.
From my perspective that move of suppressing native peoples' native languages serves no immediate purpose (even if they can't speek Russian in public they will do in private and anyway remain pro- Russian. Should Russia send 'Green Men' they will still support them). But it saws anger an hatred. Not a clever move IMHO, although emotionally I can somewhat understand it.