Archive · 2024 · From the print edition of Monday 4 March 2024, Vol. 31, No. 9,697
NewsThe minister who answers in Russian
Oleg Rudenko answered every question in the Mejlis last week in Russian, as he always does. Nationalist commentators want him to answer in Iradi.
TALAS — The Minister of Transport, Oleg Rudenko, answered eleven questions from deputies in the Mejlis last Thursday, on the repair of the Fergana Mountain Transit Highway, the bridges on the Chu road and the Civil Aviation Directorate's budget. He answered all of them in Russian, as he has since his appointment in 2018.
Mr. Rudenko, a railway engineer from Nurzhan and one of the few Russos in the cabinet, also answers in English when he is asked in English. He has never answered in Iradi in the chamber, and since last week several nationalist commentators have said he should. One, writing in a Talas weekly, called it "a minister of the Republic speaking to the Republic in the language of its former owners".
The Mejlis rules allow ministers to answer in Iradi, Russian or English. A spokesman for the ministry said Mr. Rudenko "answers in the language in which he can be most precise, because roads and bridges require precision".
Deputies from Nurzhan defended him. "The bridge does not care what language the minister uses," said one. "It cares whether it is repaired."