KIEV, April 2 – Ukraine has proposed that Russia grant official status to the Ukrainian language, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk has said.

"The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has made a statement on the matter. The Ukrainian-speaking community is the largest in Russia, and it would be completely natural if Ukrainian is a second state language in Russia, or at least has a special status," he said during Dragon Capital's 10th annual investment conference in Kiev on Wednesday.

He said that Ukraine was also asking the Russian authorities to open Ukrainian schools in Russia.