Lawmakers want to eliminate Russianisms and Anglicisms from legislation
Ruslan Stefanchuk, Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, stated that there are plans to eliminate Russian loanwords and Anglicisms from Ukrainian legislation. To this end, they intend to draft a separate legislative act that will change the terminology used in laws and establish rules for its use. They are currently awaiting the conclusions of experts from the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Legal Sciences.
Verkhovna Rada Chairman Ruslan Stefanchuk announced the preparation of amendments to Ukrainian legislation. Specifically, this concerns the language in which laws and other regulatory acts are written. According to Stefanchuk, a separate legislative act is planned to be created for this purpose. Before drafting it, they are awaiting expert reviews from the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and the National Academy of Legal Sciences. “This will be a separate legislative act. We are awaiting the relevant expert reviews from the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Legal Sciences,” Stefanchuk said.
According to him, the upcoming initiative is intended to change the terminology used in Ukrainian legislation. They also aim to establish rules for the correct application of linguistic norms in the texts of laws.
What They Want to Change
Stefanchuk explained that the main goal is to make the texts of Ukrainian laws written in Ukrainian and understandable. He specifically drew attention to words and constructions that, in his opinion, have found their way into legislation from Russian or English. “We must stop writing Ukrainian laws using either Russisms or Anglicisms. It must be pure Ukrainian that is understandable to everyone. That is precisely why we are working with many experts on these issues,” emphasized the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada.
This is not just about individual words. Earlier, the Verkhovna Rada had already discussed the broader issue of the language of legislation. In particular, they noted that regulatory acts still contain Russisms, calques, and expressions that do not correspond to modern Ukrainian. Parliament also links this work to the need to more accurately translate Ukrainian legislation into the languages of the European Union and to align it with European standards.
Work on the language of laws continues
The issue of the Ukrainization of legislation was discussed in the Verkhovna Rada as far back as 2025. At that time, Stefanchuk spoke of the need to conduct a large-scale review of legal texts and determine which formulations needed to be changed. “The Ukrainian language must be precise, modern, and competitive in the legal sphere,” he stated.
Parliament also emphasized that there are issues with a unified approach to translating legal terms. This could create difficulties both in understanding Ukrainian laws and in adapting them to EU law. Currently, the focus is on drafting a separate piece of legislation. Stefanchuk has not yet provided the specific text of the document or a timeline for its adoption. According to him, the necessary expert work must first be completed.
Thus, the current focus is specifically on preparing future amendments, rather than on a law that has already been adopted. The main objective of the initiative is to review the terminology in Ukrainian legislation and bring it into line with modern linguistic standards. He spoke about this in Zhytomyr during a meeting dedicated to the progress made on the new Civil Code of Ukraine.
