The European Parliament on Thursday recognized as genocide the famine that killed millions of Ukrainians during the Soviet era, ‘Holodomor’, in a message of support for Kiev after last month designating Russia as a ‘state sponsor of terrorism’.
With 507 votes in favor, 12 against and 17 abstentions, the European Parliament «strongly condemns these acts, which caused the death of millions of Ukrainians» and call on the international community and multilateral organizations to recognize this episode that took place between 1932 and 1933 as a genocide against the Ukrainian people.
The MEPs demand that the current Russian leaders apologize for the ‘Holodomor’, considering them the main successors of the Soviet Union, and condemns the historical manipulation of the Kremlin, as well as calling on the EU to educate about this historical fact and other crimes of the Soviet regime.
The text establishes links between the famine of the Ukrainian people in 1932 and the current Russian military aggression against Ukraine, accusing the current regime of persecuting Ukrainians, violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country and seeking to liquidate the Ukrainian state itself and destroy its identity and culture.
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski thanked on Twitter for the European Parliament’s gesture, an «important and fair» pronouncement in his opinion. «I hope for further recognition of the ‘Holodomor’ as genocide by all civilized countries of the world,» he reiterated.
