Language Ombudsman goes into business and “patents” “Palianytsia”
1 May 2024 14:25
Despite the full-scale invasion, the book business in Ukraine is constantly gaining momentum: hundreds of new authors, books, and stories. Last week, Kyiv hosted the first Book Country Festival, bringing together the largest Ukrainian publishing houses, authors and readers. Taras Kremin, the Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language and a person close to the book business, also attended the festival. According to the language ombudsman’s declaration, in 2023 he co-authored the Ukrainian language manual for beginners “Palianytsia”, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports
In his declaration for 2023, Kremin declared the copyright to this book (33% ownership). The manual can be freely purchased in various online stores and on the website of the Aston book publishing house for 179 UAH.
“The Loaf is not the only book Kremin published in 2023. According to his declaration, he also holds the copyright to the Ukrainian Language for Adults in 28 Lessons (50% ownership). It has already been published by another publishing house, Folio.
This handbook is also freely available in online stores and on the publisher’s website for UAH 200.
In 2023, this publishing house also paid royalties to the Language Ombudsman, amounting to almost UAH 50,000. It is not yet known how much royalties Kremin will receive for Palianytsia and when.
In his declaration, Kremin also indicated his salary as the Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language: it amounted to UAH 870,328, and according to YouControl, in 2023, Kremin declared income from business activities – almost UAH 2 million.
However, the same amount is already listed on the NACP website as income from business activities of the ombudsman’s wife, Yulia Kremin.
In addition, in 2023, the Ombudsman received a salary of 93 thousand UAH for his work at the Mykolaiv National Agrarian University. And his wife received UAH 60 thousand in state aid (E-support).
Who is Taras Kremin?
Taras Kremin is a politician, scientist and political activist. He is the son of Ukrainian poet and Shevchenko Prize winner Dmytro Kremin.
By education, Taras Kremin is a teacher of Ukrainian language and literature, as well as English and foreign literature. He studied at Mykolaiv State Pedagogical University. in 2004, he completed his postgraduate studies at the Department of Ukrainian Literature of the 20th Century at the Taras Shevchenko Institute of Literature of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and became a candidate of philological sciences.
Kremin also completed his doctoral studies at the Department of Ukrainian and Foreign Literature and Methods of Teaching at the Hryhorii Skovoroda Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi State Pedagogical University.
From 2000 to 2018, he worked as an associate professor of Ukrainian literature, deputy dean of the Faculty of Philology and Journalism, and professor at Vasyl Sukhomlynsky Mykolaiv National University.
In 2010, he became a deputy of the Mykolaiv Regional Council from the Front for Change. He was a member of the Standing Committee on Culture, Education and Science, Family, Youth and Sports.
Already in 2012, he was among the candidates on the Batkivshchyna list in the elections to the Verkhovna Rada. He was not elected to the parliament.
In 2013-2014, Taras Kremin was the acting head of the Mykolaiv regional party organisation of Batkivshchyna. Later (in 2014), he became the chairman of the Mykolaiv Regional Council.
In 2014, he was elected as a member of the Verkhovna Rada of the 8th convocation from the People’s Front party (No. 59 on the list, party member).
In the early parliamentary elections of 2019, he ran on the list of the party “Hroisman’s Ukrainian Strategy”, under No. 28. He was not elected to the Verkhovna Rada.
Since 2018, he has been a professor at the Mykolaiv National Agrarian University and the Mykolaiv Regional Institute of Postgraduate Pedagogical Education.
Since 2020, he has been the Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language.
