Linguistic Populism

Old Divisions Resurface in Ukraine: Presidential Electoral Crisis Brings East-West Stereotypes to Fore by Peter Finn:

Differences over identity, language, culture and religion, which are broadly defined by an east-west divide, are bursting to the surface. The stoking of historical fears that divide what many perceive as a Russophile east and a nationalist west could continue long after the dispute over voting is settled, if it does not rupture the country first, analysts say...

Yushchenko has been portrayed as the servant of extreme, Russophobe nationalists from the western part of the country who would suppress the Russian language and assault the Orthodox Church, which is under the authority of the Moscow Patriarchate. Leaflets found in Orthodox churches have described Yushchenko as a "partisan of the schismatics and an enemy of Orthodoxy."...

Yushchenko supporters also portray Yanukovych...as a thug whose sometimes coarse language and poor Ukrainian are emblematic of his unfitness for high office...

Yanukovych...solidified his core constituency by saying he would make Russian an official language and promote an economic union and open borders with Russia.

Shades of Taiwanese and Mandarin in Taiwan. The Myth Of Russophone Unity In Ukraine claimed that there was no such rift over language in the Ukraine:

Data from an Intermedia National Survey in late 1999 conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology asked "In which language is it easier for you to talk?" Of the respondents, 44.2 percent said in Ukrainian and only 38.7 percent said in Russian. In response to the question "which language do you speak at home?" 47.8 percent said Ukrainian, 36.3 percent Russian, and 14.4 percent both.

However, it's awfully easy to whip up linguistic populism. Wikipedia claims

The relationships between Ukrainian and Russian have long been a subject of especially hot controversies. The summary of those controversies is that Ukrainians tend to say that these two languages are quite different, whereas Russians tend to say that they are quite similar...

Since 1991, the independent Ukraine has made Ukrainian the only official state language (under last census the percentage of Ukrainian speaking population rose to 67% and the Russian has decreased to 24%). Minority languages, including Russian, are permitted to be used at the local level, both governmental and commercial. Ethnic Russians have migrated in large numbers to better economic opportunities in Russia, and Russians, mixed families and Russophone Ukrainians have come to self-identify as Ukrainians. The educational system in Ukraine has been transformed over the first decade of independence from a system that is half-Ukrainian to one that is overwhelmingly so. The government has also mandated a progressively increased role for Ukrainian in the media and commerce. Due to lack of a coordinated policy and supportive export tax laws in neighboring Russia, however, the Russian-language predominance in the print media has only increased since independence.