In Odesa, the "Maski" Theater has once again been caught violating the language law

New violations of the state language law were recorded at the “Maski” Theater in Odesa. Four administrative reports were filed during an inspection of the venue.

This was reported by Olena Ivanovska, the Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language. According to Anna Nerush, a representative of the language ombudsman, the case concerns the “Maski” Theater. 

Following an on-site inspection of the “Maski” Theater in Odesa, four reports of administrative offenses were drawn up.

The inspection was prompted by three complaints from various complainants regarding possible violations of the Law of Ukraine “On Ensuring the Functioning of the Ukrainian Language as the State Language.” According to Nerush, the inspection lasted more than two and a half hours, and the theater’s management provided access to the premises and the necessary documents. Some of the violations were rectified immediately during the inspection.

One of the reports was filed due to a violation of customer service requirements. A video recording was attached to the complaint showing a theater employee speaking to a female visitor in Russian.

Another violation concerned book distribution. During the inspection, five titles of books in Russian written by the theater’s actors were found, while no Ukrainian-language editions were available for sale. Representatives of the theater stated their intention to expand the selection to include books in the official language.

Inspectors also documented violations of requirements for online presence. On the theater’s social media pages, Russian-language posts, hashtags, and publications with Russian-language audio were found. This violation had been documented previously during the year. At the time of the inspection, some of this content had already been translated into Ukrainian.

In addition, three signs in a language other than the state language were found on the theater’s premises, which also served as grounds for issuing a violation report. This was a repeat violation, and the Russian-language signs were removed or replaced during the inspection.

In March 2026, following the results of a previous inspection, the “Maski” Theater had already been fined a total of 17,000 hryvnias for violating the law on the state language.

In 2025, the Odesa region ranked second in Ukraine in terms of the number of complaints regarding violations of legislation on the protection of the state language. Over the past year, 445 complaints were received from the Odesa region, which is 6.7% more than in 2024. 

Анна Бальчінос