EP recognizes Holodomor as genocide of Ukrainian people – resolution

The European Parliament recognized the Holodomor of 1932-1933, organized by the Soviet government, as a genocide of the Ukrainian people, Report informs via Interfax-Ukraine.

The resolution was voted on Thursday in the framework of the plenary session of the European Parliament.

"[The European Parliament] recognises the Holodomor, the artificial famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine caused by a deliberate policy of the Soviet regime, as a genocide against the Ukrainian people, as it was committed with the intent to destroy a group of people by deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction," according to the resolution.

In this regard, the European Parliament called on Russia "as the primary successor of the Soviet Union, to officially recognise the Holodomor and to apologise for those crimes." In addition, the European Parliament called on "all the countries and international organisations which have not yet recognised the Holodomor as a genocide to do so."

The European Parliament also stated that it "strongly condemns these genocidal acts of the totalitarian Soviet regime, which resulted in the death of millions of Ukrainians and significantly harmed the foundations of Ukrainian society." "[The European Parliament] calls on all countries, in particular the Russian Federation and the other countries which emerged following the break-up of the Soviet Union, to open up their archives on the artificial famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine," according to the resolution.

The European Parliament Commemorates all the victims of the Holodomor and expresses its solidarity with the Ukrainian people who suffered in this tragedy, in particular with the remaining survivors of the Holodomor and their families; pays its respects to those who died as a consequence of these crimes committed by the totalitarian Soviet regime.

The European Parliament also called on EU Member States and third countries to promote awareness about these events and other crimes committed by the Soviet regime by incorporating historical knowledge about them into educational and research programmes, in order to prevent similar tragedies in the future.

In addition, the European Parliament stated that it deplores the fact that the 90th anniversary of the Holodomor is taking place while Russia is continuing its war of aggression against Ukraine, violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of that country and seeking to liquidate Ukraine as a nation state and destroy the identity and culture of its people; condemns, moreover, the fact that Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine has created a global food crisis, with Russia destroying and looting Ukraine's grain stores and continuing to make it difficult for Ukraine to export grain to the most deprived countries.

The European Parliament also condemns the current Russian regime's manipulation of historical memory for the purpose of regime survival. "In this regard, reiterates its condemnation of the forced closure by the Russian authorities of the human and civil rights organisations International Memorial Society and the Memorial Human Rights Centre, an act that underscored the revisionist ideology of the current Russian regime." "[The European Parliament] calls on the EU and its Member States, public and private institutions and all civil society to actively denounce and refute all attempts at distorting historical facts or manipulating public opinion in Europe through false historical narratives that are fabricated and disseminated to support the ideology and survival of criminal regimes," according to the resolution.

In addition, the European Parliament "condemned, in the strongest terms, all forms of totalitarianism " and expressed regret "that the crimes of the Soviet totalitarian regime have not been evaluated so far from a legal perspective, their perpetrators have not been brought to justice and the crimes have never been clearly condemned by the international community." "[The European Parliament] calls for a comprehensive, historical and legal assessment of the Soviet regime and a transparent public debate about its crimes, which is of utmost importance for building a common European history and remembrance and thus also strengthening the resilience of our societies to modern threats to democracy; reiterates that the assessment of the Soviet regime and a transparent public debate about its crimes is most important for Russia itself, in order to raise public awareness, build resilience against disinformation and distorted historical narratives and prevent the repetition of similar crimes," the European Parliament said.

"As Ukraine commemorates the 90th anniversary since the start of the Holodomor, we cannot ignore the parallels of history. Stalin's Soviet Russia targeted civilians by weaponising food and starvation. Putin's Russia is once again purposefully targeting civilians by weaponising food and destroying critical infrastructure to deprive Ukrainians of warmth and light," Vice Chair of the EPP Foreign Affairs Group Rasa Juknevičienė said.

"Uncondemned brutality will continue to repeat itself until we choose to call it out. Finally Europe is waking up to its moral obligation to fully evaluate, recognise, and condemn Soviet crimes. The European Parliament should be a leading voice on this," Juknevičienė said.