Ukraine Allows Writing 'Russia' in Lowercase

The National Commission for State Language Standards of Ukraine has announced that writing terms such as 'Russian Federation,' 'Russia,' 'Moscow,' 'Muscovy,' 'Kingdom of Moscow,' 'Russian Empire,' and 'State Duma of the Russian Federation' in lowercase in unofficial texts is not considered a deviation from Ukrainian language norms. This was reported by the news agency 'Ukrainian News.'

In discussing this issue, the commission consulted with the Ukrainian Language Institute, which is part of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, and the A.A. Potebnia Institute of Linguistics.

The commission issued the statement following a call from Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk on September 8 to officially change the spelling of Russia and its leaders' names. The day before, the Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine, Oksen Lisovoy, signed an order stating that the name 'Russian Federation' should be written with capital letters in official documents. The minister explained this requirement as a regulatory necessity.

Since the onset of Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, many Ukrainian politicians, officials, and journalists have begun writing 'Russia,' 'Russian Federation,' and 'Putin' in lowercase.