Irina Farion, a hardline politician who wanted to eliminate the Russian language from Ukraine, was shot in the head

Farion was still alive when she was taken to hospital, but she died in the operation room due to the severity of her injury. The gunman has yet to be apprehended. The former deputy joined the Svoboda party in 2005 and won a seat in the State Rada (the Ukrainian unicameral parliament) in 2012. However, she failed to be re-elected in the 2014 elections, in which Svoboda won no seats.

Farion gained fame for his frequent campaigns to promote the Ukrainian language and denounce Russian-speaking public officials. In 2010, he criticised people who baptised their children with Russian names. In 2018, when Ukraine was fighting Russian-funded separatists who had seized territory in the east, he called for a campaign to “give back”. a punch to the jaw For all Russian speaking people.

Controversies

In the first months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Farion condemned the Russian-speaking fighters of the Azov regiment who defended the port city of Mariupol for three months. In a previous interview he strongly criticized the Ukrainian military for continuing to communicate in Russian.

I cannot call them Ukrainians if they do not speak Ukrainian; the linguist said in front of television cameras, “Let them call themselves ‘Russians.'” He urged the Ukrainian military, “Show your patriotism: learn the language of Taras Grigorievich Shevchenko.”

After the scandal caused by his performances, Farion published a message from one of his subscribers from the occupied Crimea, who supported his attitude, and made it known. The Crimean young man was detained by the Russian secret services, which led to Protest by students of Lviv Polytechnicdemanded that Farian be fired and they succeeded on November 15, 2023. But he was later reinstated.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, reacting to what happened this Friday, assured that the Ministry of the Interior and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) will keep him informed about the ups and downs of the search for the killer. “The necessary forces have been involved to clarify the circumstances of this crime. It is clear that any violence deserves only condemnation and all those guilty of this attack must answer to justice, the head of state announced on his Telegram channel.