ODESA, JUNE 16th, 2011, CONTEXT-PRICHERNOMORIE — Governor of Odesa Oblast Eduard Matviycguk says Russian is the language that united over 130 nationalities in Odesa Region, Context-Prichernomorie correspondent reports.

The Governor has stated it today 16 June, at the XIII Congress of the World Association of the Russian Press.

“Several hundreds of Russian-language newspapers are published in the Odesa region currently. There are more than 25 television channels and most of them broadcast in Russian. That is the Russian language is the language that united more than 130 nationalities, the language in which people think. And the stand of Regional State Administration is such a person should speak and read in the same language as they speak. Now our President Viktor Yanukovich has set the task to develop freedom of speech, so in our work, we pay a lot of our attention to freedom of speech and the media. Freedom of speech and freedom of the individual are perhaps the most important things. Without the press as the fourth power, we cannot build a democratic and prosperous state. And I would like to wish success to all the participants of the Congress”, said Governor Matviychuk.