Ukraine Says Foreign Films Must Be Dubbed In Ukrainian

KIEV, Ukraine -- A Ukrainian court Monday banned the screening or distribution of any foreign films which are not dubbed or sub-titled in the national language, following a campaign against movies translated into Russian.

Ukrainian movie star Milla Jovovich
The constitutional court said foreign films would not be aired or distributed if "they are not dubbed or post-synchronized or do not have the captioning data in the state language."

The move follows a campaign by the Ukrainian public movement Varto! calling for a boycott of foreign films dubbed in Russian or carrying Russian sub-titles.

Ukraine, a former Soviet republic with 47 million inhabitants, is split over the language issue.

Almost 42 percent of 1,800 people questioned in a poll say Ukrainian should be the only state language, whereas 30 percent want Russian to be also declared an official language, according to a poll released Monday.

Source: AFP