Ukraine’s national language commission says ‘Russia’ and ‘Moscow’ can be written in lowercase letters in unofficial texts

The Ukrainian government’s National Commission on State Language Standards announced Thursday that writing the words “Russian Federation,” “Russia,” “Moscow,” “Muscovy,” “Tsardom of Muscovy,” “Russian Empire,” “State Duma of the Russian Federation,” and similar terms in lowercase letters is permissible in unofficial texts in Ukrainian, according to the outlet Ukrainskie Novosti.

The policy change came in response to a September 8 call from Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk to officially change the names of Russia and its leaders in the Ukrainian language. A day earlier, Ukrainian Education and Science Minister Oksen Lisovyi signed an order stating that the phrase Russian Federation must be written with capital initial letters in official documents.

After the start of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, numerous Ukrainian politicians, officials, and journalists, began writing the words “Russia,” “Russian Federation,” and “Putin” with only lowercase letters.