Russia / Ukraine / Holodomor

Russia's Duma Welcomes Ukrainian President's Opinion of Holodomor
By Alexei Drujinin
RIA Novosti dispatch in Kyiv Post, April 28, 2010
"Russia's State Duma has welcomed Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych's opinion on the recognition of Ukrainian genocide during the 1930s, the speaker of the parliament's lower house, Boris Gryzlov, said on Wednesday. On Tuesday, Yanukovych told the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe's spring session that the famine could not be considered genocide as it was 'a common tragedy of the Soviet people.' 'We welcome the new constructive approach to historic problems, which was shown by [Ukrainian President] Viktor Yanukovych in Strasbourg yesterday. In return, the Russian parliamentarians are always open to a comprehensive dialogue, based on facts and historic truth, but not on emotions,' Gryzlov said.
Yanukovych said considering the Great Famine (Holodomor) of the Ukrainian SSR in the 1930s as genocide as 'incorrect and unfair' because it affected Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine. Ukrainian nationalists say Russia, as the legal successor of the Soviet Union, should bear responsibility for the famine in which more than 3 million people perished in Ukraine. Former Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko struggled for international recognition of the famine as an act of genocide. Under present Ukrainian law, it is an offense to deny the famine. Gryzlov also condemned the attempts of several delegations to use PACE as a tribunal for spreading anti-Russian policies. [...]"