Capital of Ukraine is Kyiv

To: Editor of The Economist
25 St James’s Street
London SW1A 1HG
Fax: +44 20 7839 4092

Sir,

I would like to bring your attention to the fact that your paper constantly refers to the capital of Ukraine as Kiev. For several reasons provided below, name Kyiv should be used instead.

Whenever you arrive to Kyiv Boryspil International, you will never miss four big shining letters KYIV on the top of the airport building. When you drive further towards the city, you will be greeted by the board “Kyiv welcomes you” on the side of the speedway. You may think these changes occurred after the Orange Revolution. Let me reassure you that this was already the case in earlier nineties and long time before it.

Ukrainian Parliament, Verkhovna Rada, through many of its Commissions allows only one spelling, Kyiv [ http://www.rada.gov.ua/translit ]. Probably, the most important argument is the Constitution of Ukraine, which clearly states that “The capital of Ukraine is the City of Kyiv” [Article 20, http://www.rada.gov.ua/const/conengl.htm ].

Even your style guide insists on the modern spelling “… But follow local practice when a country expressly changes its name, or the names of rivers, towns, etc, within it. Thus Almaty not Alma Ata; …”. You prefer to write Moldova, Belarus, Chisinau instead of Soviet era names Moldavia, Byelorussia, Kishenev, saying nothing about Myanmar versus Burma.

I wonder why you drop Kyiv out of this list? You wrongly make an impression on many of your readers who actually have visited Ukraine that your journalists are not particularly aware of what is going on in the country.

I would like to use this opportunity and welcome you to visit our capital and see it for yourself. The face of Kyiv changes every day, except for its name.

Yours faithfully

Sign this letter

WASHINGTON The State Department said on Thursday a government decision to change the spelling of Ukraine’s capital to Kyiv from Kiev had nothing to do with politics.

“I don’t think this decision has anything reflective in it”, said Tom Casey, a department spokesman.

About half of Ukraine’s population of 47-million are Russian speakers, and Kiev is the Russian spelling.

Ukraine’s Western-leaning President Viktor Yushchenko, elected on the wave of the 2004 Orange Revolution mass protests against election fraud, has sought to take his nation out of Russia’s orbit and join NATO and the European Union.

Casey said the decision to change was more in keeping with how Ukrainians themselves pronounce the name of their capital. He said international organizations such as NATO and United Nations already are using the spelling the department has adopted.

The Associated Press continues to spell the name of the capital Kiev.

In the 900s, Kiev, one of the oldest cities in Europe, became the capital of Kievan Rus, the first Russian state.

The department announced the change in a memorandum Oct. 3, instructing officials to use the Kyiv spelling in all communications regarding Ukraine.

When a reporter asked about the change Thursday, Casey said to laughter he welcomed the question because “I have been waiting for this for several days.”

He explained there is a U.S. Board of Geographic Names that includes representatives from several government departments, including the State Department, to establish and maintain uniform geographic name usage throughout the federal government.

Asked why the spelling of Burma had not been changed to Myanmar as the country’s military leaders call it, Casey replied, “I’ll have to get back to you on that…But for now Burma is known as Burma.”

[Source: IHT] [Source: U.S. Department of State]