Despite the opposition of the communists

The State Duma, on the initiative of a group of United Russia deputies, yesterday adopted a statement “In memory of the victims of the famine of the 30s on the territory of the USSR.” An attempt to give a symmetrical response to Ukraine resulted in an internal political dispute between United Russia and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.

In 2006, on the initiative of Viktor Yushchenko, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a law recognizing the famine in Ukraine of 1932-1933 as genocide of the Ukrainian people, and deputy from Our Ukraine Boris Bespaly stated that in the future Ukraine may demand compensation from Russia for genocide. In October 2007, at a meeting with ambassadors of foreign states, the wife of the President of Ukraine, Ekaterina Yushchenko, called on the world community to recognize the famine of 1932-1933 in the Ukrainian SSR as genocide. President Viktor Yushchenko declared 2008 in Ukraine a year of remembrance for the victims of the Holodomor.

In a statement brought to the attention of the lower chamber by a group of United Russia deputies led by Konstantin Zatulin, it was stated that “there is no historical evidence that the famine was organized along ethnic lines,” and accordingly, “this tragedy does not and cannot have internationally established characteristics genocide and should not be the subject of modern political speculation." The Duma members might have agreed on this, if not for the words that “the State Duma deputies, paying tribute to the memory of the victims of the famine of the 30s, strongly condemned the regime that neglected the lives of people in order to achieve economic and political goals...”.

To deputies from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, condemnation of the political regime of the USSR and collectivization seemed “unacceptable things.”

Communist Vladimir Fedotkin suggested that Konstantin Zatulin, who presented the resolution to the attention of his colleagues, support a “small” addition, “literally two words” that would “balance” the text: “We, deputies, apologize for the fact that in today’s Russia the population is decreasing by 800 thousand people a year, mainly from chronic malnutrition and lack of medicine. We are concerned that this primarily concerns the native Russian regions, understanding the degree of our parliamentary responsibility, we promise to correct the situation. Can you support?

“I don’t really understand parliamentary literature in which deputies apologize, make promises, and so on,” Mr. Zatulin answered Mr. Fedotkin. “If we consider ourselves wrong in something, then let’s correct it, and your apologies will In this case, no one is hot or cold."

The leader of the LDPR, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, was confused by the interpretation of the concept of “genocide,” because “here it will be difficult for us to prove to them that there was no genocide.” “There was no genocide within the USSR, since famine and repression occurred throughout the country, but now they operate within a separate state,” recalled Mr. Zhirinovsky. And communist Sergei Obukhov was worried that the State Duma, recognizing the Soviet Union as a totalitarian state, could thereby rehabilitate “Vlasov, Bandera, and all other fighters against totalitarianism.” Konstantin Zatulin noted that the document “passed all the necessary legal and linguistic examination.” However, the transparency of the condemnation of those who subject history to “bullying” was not clear to everyone. This was stated by another Duma representative of the communists, Nikolai Kolomeytsev, addressing the speaker: “There is no drought in the text, there is neither Yushchenko nor Ukraine here. So answer me, please, maybe you have a different text? In the one that exists I have no condemnation of either the Ukrainian authorities or any others, there is no drought here either.” United Russia member Zatulin advised the communist Kolomeytsev to carefully read the entire statement from beginning to end: “Look at the second page, second paragraph, first sentence, “repressive measures aggravated the severe consequences of the crop failure of 1932.” You want me to call it “drought,” but that no less is it a “crop failure.”

Without giving the floor to deputy Kolomeitsev, who was trying to object to something, first vice-speaker Oleg Morozov, refusing to recognize the genre of “speaking from the floor,” advised everyone to go out into the corridor and “grab each other by the jackets.” And the speaker drew the attention of his colleagues to the fact that “the respected deputies of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation faction simply entered into battle one after another in order to wash everything that happened in the 30s whitewash,” and hoped that “someday more will prevail in the Communist Party of the Russian Federation faction.” a balanced and calm assessment of the past, which would allow us to communicate, at least in the same language." Deputies of all factions, except the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, voted for the statement (see page 10).

Natalia Kommersant-Bespalova

The State Duma condemned the famine