| dc.description.abstract | The question of language rights of minorities is one that used to be jealously guarded within each State’s domestic domain, since it goes, in several ways, to the heart of State sovereignty. Despite this, we have seen, in the last two decades, a complex system of international legal standards being put in place, particularly in Europe. Russia and Ukraine have accepted, to a different degree, to engage with this process of international standard-setting. This article proposes a comparison of the two legal systems with regard to language rights. It explores the degree to which language reforms in each of the two case studies have been domestically driven. It also examines the legal status of language rights in light of the process of Europeanization and looks at how the European minority rights standards and instruments have contributed to the development and the implementation of language rights of minorities in both countries. | en |