This paper tackles the paradoxical role played by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML) both in the formulation of government policy, and in the turbulent politics of Ukraine, and the vexed question of the status of the Russian language in the country. The authors contend that the charter has achieved great symbolic signifi-cance in Ukraine. However, the actual content of its ratification remains the subject of confusion. That is, ratification and implementation of the charter have become strictly political rather than policy objectives, not only leading to surprising reversals in the ratification process (Ukraine has ratified it not once but twice), but also to implementation in forms not anticipated in the charter itself.