Medvedev speaks of «so-called” Holodomor
Russias President Medvedev has sent a letter to President Yushchenko in which he names Holodomor 1932-1933 “so-called” and claims that it has been made a central theme in foreign policy together with attempts by the Ukrainian government to join the NATO Membership Plan.
The Russian leader says that the subject of Holodomor is being used for short-term political ends. He asserts that the law passed by the Verkhovna Rada in 2006 which recognizes Holodomor as genocide of the Ukrainian people is an imposed interpretation of events taken without awaiting comprehensive study of the issue.
He claimed that such action is aimed at dividing the peoples of the former USSR since as he puts it Russians, Belarusians, and Kazakhs also died as a result of the famine of the 1930s.
He said that he would not be taking part in the events to mark the anniversary of Holodomor since in his words a dangerous trend seen in the coverage of this issue by Kyiv needed to be rectified.
He proposed setting up an expert commission including representatives of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and other, as he put it, interested CIS countries.
This message from Dmitry Medvedev was the latest in a number of critical statements from the Russian side aimed at Kyiv which have been bordering on the aggressive.
Tens of countries have recognized Holodomor in Ukraine to have been genocide, and the UN and European Parliament have called the artificial famine a crime against humanity.
On 18 November President Yushchenko will take part in the presentation of a National Book of Remembrance. An exhibition will be opened after the presentation entitled “Holodomor 1932-1933 – genocide of the Ukrainian people”.
Translated from http://bbc.co.uk/ukrainian