Ukraine calls on Russia to stop trying to discredit Holodomor
It is worth mentioning that the press statement issued by the Russian Federations Ministry of Foreign Affairs resulted in extraordinary headlines in the Russian media like “Russia welcomes Ukraines failure at the UN over Holodomor”.
Statement from the Press Service of Ukraines Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the 75th anniversary of Holodomor 1932-1933 in Ukraine
This year Ukraine marks the 75th anniversary of one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the history of mankind – Holodomor 1932-1933. This was a conscious and well-planned act of genocide by the totalitarian communist regime against the Ukrainian people. In such cynical and inhuman manner Stalins regime sought to deal a fatal blow to the Ukrainian peasantry as the basis of our nation, to undermine the strength of the people and remove for ever the chance of Ukraines rebirth as an independent state.
Archival documents show that Holodomor had an overtly anti-Ukrainian bent. This has been convincingly proven by scholars from many countries.
Awareness in the world of the extent of this tragedy is steadily increasing, this being demonstrated by the ongoing process of recognition of Holodomor by parliaments of democratic countries.
Against this background, there was deep indignation in Ukraine at the press statement issued by the MFA of the Russian Federation on 24 September which commented in an unacceptably derisory tone on Ukraines wish to bring the truth about Holodomor 1932-1933 to the attention of the world community.
It is difficult to conceive of how a country which bestowed upon world culture the great humanists Tolstoy, Rerikh and Sakharov can allow itself to sneer at Ukraines efforts to honour the memory of the victims of a terrible tragedy so as to prevent it ever being repeated. Instead of paying homage to the past which our nations shared, Russias leaders are on the contrary taking great effort to discredit the tragedy of Holodomor.
This position is all the more incomprehensible given that in November 2003 the Russian Federation, together with 53 other member states of the UN supported a joint resolution to mark the “seventieth anniversary of the Ukrainian tragedy”, and in 2007 – Resolution 34-1 of the UNESCO General Conference “On Remembrance of victims of Holodomor in Ukraine 1932-1933”.
A similar proposal was put forward by Ukraine at the 9th Session of the UN Human Rights Council. However, in view of the fact that the issue of Holodomor is being considered at other world forums, the Ukrainian delegation on 22 September, in a spirit of compromise, decided not to insist on a vote for the draft resolution by the Council.
Ukraine calls on the Russian Federations leaders and prominent politicians to put an end to the cynical denial of historical truth about Holodomor and attempts to excuse and whitewash the crimes of Stalinism.
http://mfa.gov.ua/mfa/ua/news/detail/15652.htm (KHPG translation)