On the Principles of State Language Policy
"On the Principles of State Language Policy", also nicknamed the "Kivalov-Kolesnichenko Law" after its proposers, is a Law of Ukraine that expanded the use of regional languages in Ukraine for those with at least 10% usage in a certain region, mainly to protect the Russian language in Ukraine.
On 7 February 2012, the bill was first introduced by MPs Serhii Kivalov and, and had the registration number 9073.
On 5 June 2012, the Verkhovna Rada adopted the law in first reading with 234 votes in favor, though some claimed only 172 voted in favor. On 3 July, the second reading passed with 248 votes in favor in violation of legislative procedures. On 31 July, despite previous statements against doing so, the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Volodymyr Lytvyn signed the bill. On 8 August, president Viktor Yanukovych also signed the bill, it came into effect two days later on the 10th.
On 23 February 2014, the Verkhovna Rada passed a motion repealing this law as invalid. The next day, the High Commissioner on National Minorities from the OSCE Astrid Thors expressed concern that the repeal of this Law could lead to further unrest. The following week, acting president Oleksandr Turchynov announced his refusal to approve the repeal. Later on, newly-elected president Petro Poroshenko also called this repeal attempt a mistake, stressing other ways to improve language policy.
On 29 February 2018, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine declared this law unconstitutional and struck it down. The following year, this law was replaced by Law of Ukraine "On protecting the functioning of the [Ukrainian language as the state language"|"On protecting the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the state language"].