There is an opinion that the legislation of Ukraine about of protection of the rights and freedoms of national minorities is one of the best and most progressive in Europe. This stereotype was formed due to the fact that the basic laws of Ukraine, which protect national minorities, have been taken somewhat earlier (the Law “On languages in Ukrainian SSR” (1989), “Declaration on state sovereignty of Ukraine” (1990), “Declaration of rights of nationalities of Ukraine” (1991), etc.) than the relevant acts of the European Union (“Charter of regional languages” (1992), “The framework Convention for the protection of national minorities” (1995)). The legislation of Ukraine, indeed, refl ects all the fundamental rights and freedoms of national minorities. However, it, like the practice of its use, far from ideal. Among the main problems: the declarative nature of legislation and lack of practical mechanisms of its implementation; the uncertainty of the used categories, such as “national minority”, “indigenous peoples”; the ambiguity of the laws, some of which have mutually exclusive content; the lack of systematic dialogue between government and national minorities; direct failure of the laws and the lack of political will of the authorities in the enforcement of these laws. Began the process of refi ning these laws, where a place was occupied which was adopted in 2012 the Law “On principles of state language policy” was interrupted in the context of current events in Ukraine.