KIEV, Ukraine, Aug. 24 (UPI) -- Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, in an Independence Day speech, said all politicians should be able to speak Ukrainian.
Yushchenko spoke in one of Kiev's main squares, the Russian news agency Novosti reported.
"The principle of this country is simple -- a Ukrainian citizen is free to choose," Yushchenko said. "But a Ukrainian politician or a public servant must know, use and live by the national language."
Almost one-quarter of the population are Russian speakers, concentrated in the eastern part of the country.
Yushchenko also called on Orthodox churches to recognize the independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. When Ukraine became independent, Metropolitan Filaret declared the church's independence, but Alexey II -- head of the Russian Orthodox Church -- refused to recognize the Ukrainian organization, and other churches have followed his lead.
