BRHLÍKOVÁ Radoslava - Ph.D., Senior Lecturer, Department of Political Science and Eurasian studies, Faculty of Arts , Constantine The Philosopher University in Nitra (Nitra, Slovac Republic).

Email: rbrhlikova@ukf.sk

Keywords: minorities, minority languages, language law, discrimination, EU and NATO membership, Ukraine.

The article deals with the position of national minorities in the former union states of the Soviet Union. It deals specifically with the position of national minorities in Ukraine. Based on the analysis and comparison, it examines and describes the position of these minorities society, examines and evaluates the protection of their civil and minority rights. In the context of Ukraine´s effort to become a member of the EU, the article observes how the standards of human and minority rights protection typical of democratic states in Europe are respected by Ukraine, as well as the criteria and requirements for the protection of human (civic) and minority rights by the European Union. The article is based on the premise that the standards and criteria that both the European Union and the Council of Europe place for the protection of minorities do not reach the usual parameters in Ukraine. The political representatives of Ukraine deliberately do not meet these standards, while there is no response to such a situation from the EU.