The Verkhovna Rada adopted the law on Holodomor

Yesterday, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the law on the Holodomor of 1932-1933 in the first reading. Thus, the parliament supported the initiative of President Yushchenko, who called on the Council to recognize the Holodomor as genocide of the Ukrainian nation. The approval of the bill, which caused active rejection by the Party of Regions and Communists, became possible after the president’s initiative, together with the “orange” “Our Ukraine” and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, was supported by the socialists.

Before the start of yesterday's meeting of the Verkhovna Rada, activists of the "orange" parties "Pora" and "Rukh" lined up at the entrance to parliament. They handed deputies entering the building ears of wheat tied with black ribbon, a reminder of the famine of 1932-1933, as a result of which seven to ten million people died in Ukraine. The initiative to discuss the issue of the Holodomor, which was not on the agenda of yesterday's meeting, was taken by Rukh deputy Yuri Yukhnovsky. However, the first attempt to include the issue of the Holodomor on the Rada’s agenda ended unsuccessfully - 222 out of 432 deputies voted for this proposal, with the required minimum of 226 votes. The Party of Regions and Communists factions included in the anti-crisis coalition opposed it.

The situation was turned around through the efforts of Speaker Alexander Moroz. Reminding the deputies that President Yushchenko called the bill “On the Holodomor of 1932-1933 in Ukraine” urgent, Mr. Moroz invited the deputies to vote again. At the same time, he made it clear that he did not see any possibility for himself to remain as speaker if the parliament refused to include the issue of the Holodomor on its agenda. “If we don’t want to consider absolutely understandable issues, then I don’t value this place,” warned Alexander Moroz.

The discussion that began after this was heated and proceeded in a raised voice. “Any attempts to avoid restoring historical justice are a mockery of the memory of millions of compatriots who were tortured during the largest planned murder of people in the history of mankind,” Vyacheslav Koval, a deputy from Our Ukraine, was indignant at attempts to hush up the issue of the Holodomor. “The goal of the Holodomor was to destroy the core of the nation,” echoed the representative of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, Alexander Turchynov. Mr. Turchynov expressed the opinion that voting on this issue would become “a test of citizenship, maturity and courage” for political forces.

However, opponents of the presidential bill were no less determined. Communist deputy Pyotr Tsibenko began to argue that the initiators of the discussion do not have the “moral right to condemn their predecessors” and are trying to “distract attention from their real crimes.” Mr. Tsibenko also recalled that the famine occurred not only in Ukraine, but also in the Volga region, and in the Kuban, and in some European countries. “Then the question arises, who organized the Holodomor in those countries,” the communist deputy noted. “The remnants of the 'orange' team are going on the offensive, and the president is blackmailing society, directing efforts to split it,” summarized Pyotr Tsibenko.

However, during the repeated voting, 227 deputies voted to include the issue of Holodomor on the agenda. It was possible to achieve a minimal advantage over the opponents of the discussion thanks to the votes of the socialists who responded to the call of their leader Alexander Moroz. However, in addition to the presidential bill, a bill from the Party of Regions was proposed for consideration by the Rada. The fundamental difference of the alternative bill was the absence of the concept of “genocide” in it, which was replaced by “tragedy”. In addition, the Party of Regions bill did not contain a provision on administrative punishment for denying the Holodomor in Ukraine.

After taking a break, the Rada continued its discussion during the evening meeting. During the voting, the presidential bill “On the Holodomor of 1932-1933 in Ukraine” was approved in the first reading by 233 votes.

The results of yesterday's vote became the most significant political and moral victory for President Yushchenko, who in recent months has been losing ground to the anti-crisis coalition and its leader, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. Let us recall that in early November, Viktor Yushchenko submitted for consideration to the Verkhovna Rada the draft law “On the Holodomor of 1932-1933 in Ukraine,” defining it as urgent, but the president’s initiative aroused active rejection of the anti-crisis coalition. As a result, consideration of the issue in the parliament was constantly postponed. At the end of last week, President Yushchenko took part in a number of memorial events dedicated to the 73rd anniversary of the Holodomor. On Friday, he unveiled a monument to the victims of the Holodomor in the village of Sergeevka, Chernihiv region, and on Saturday in Kyiv he laid a symbolic stone at the site of the future memorial complex in memory of the victims of the Holodomor. “I’m not asking, I’m demanding that the Ukrainian parliament recognize the Holodomor as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people. This is its direct responsibility,” the president said on Saturday, addressing the Ukrainian people. And a day earlier, Viktor Yushchenko made another important political statement, pointing out that the Ukrainian state does not blame the Russian Federation for the Holodomor of 1932-1933. “We are not talking about targeted condemnation, since the state and regime that caused the tragedy do not exist today,” Viktor Yushchenko said at a meeting with representatives of the Russian media. He noted that this issue should not be an irritant in Ukrainian-Russian relations. “If we correctly formulate our goals, if we look each other straight in the eyes and if we want to tell people the truth, then the irritants will disappear,” the president noted.

Mustafa Kommersant-Nayem, Kyiv; Sergey Kommersant-Strokan

Viktor Yushchenko insisted on genocide