SBU publicizes list of Soviet officials who engineered Holodomor Genocide

SBU publicizes list of Soviet high-ranking officials who engineered
Holodomor and repression in Ukraine
The Security Service of Ukraine has released on its website the first
list of high-ranking Soviet state and party officials and NKVD
henchmen who perpetrated and executed the man-made famine and
repression in 1932-1933 in Ukraine. The list also includes documents
signed by Holodomor perpetrators that served as organizational and
legal base for repression, SBU July 23 press service report says.
The documents taken from SBU archives convincingly prove that the
Famine of 1932-1933 was engineered by the criminal totalitarian
Communist regime. Now these hitherto classified documents have been
made available to the Ukrainian public.
Visitors to the SBU site can now not only acquaint themselves with
the list of Soviet officials but also read the documents signed by
them, protocols of Politburo sessions, secret instructions to party
members, the text of the infamous law imposing cruel punishment for
the theft of grain by famine-stricken peasants and death statistics
by law-enforcement bodies.
The publication is the start of a new project by the SBU to present
to the public classified documents from Soviet archives. The SBU
urges the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory, the State Committee
on Archives, experts in regional state archives, Holodomor
researchers to join the project with the purpose of evaluating the
role of organizers and executors of the Famine and repression to
bring them to account.

Comment by ZIK
SBU says it has made public all available archive materials about the
Famine in 1932-1933. For the first time, SBU opened its archives in
2006, notably, the Soviet documents on Holodomor. These documents
have been included in "Declassified Memory. 1932-1933 Holodomor in
Ukraine as represented by NKVD documents,"
Kyiv, 2007. Its electronic version is available on the SBU site.
http://ssu.gov.ua/sbu/control/uk/publish/article?art_id=80420&cat_id=39574

In the light of historical truth

The Holodomor in Ukraine of 1932-33 is still an open wound in our national consciousness. Those years, which were the most terrible in all of Ukraine’s history, demand from each one of us not only liberation from the stereoptypes of the past but also the truth that comes from scholarly knowledge.
Of course, documented facts that expose a terrible tragedy like the Holodomor do not ease the pangs of conscience that are experienced by normal individuals once they become aware of what Stalin’s band of murderers did to Ukraine. However, it is the sacred duty of each one of us to feel (at least partially) the pain of that time.
Click here for full story fron Den news.

Vlad and the spinmeister: The ABC’s of Holodomor denial

This year Ukraine commemorates the 75th anniversary of the 193233 Holodomor, during which at least 5 million Ukrainians are estimated to have died as a result of forced starvation and collectivization under Stalin. Kyiv’s efforts to gain worldwide recognition of the tragedy as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people have been fiercely opposed by Russia, who has recently succeeded in using its political influence to prevent such recognition. Most recently, the United Nations General Assembly refused to discuss the Holodomor’s commemoration in the current session’s discussions at a plenary session on July 11. The decision came after one Member State, Russia, opposed a proposal by Ukraine. Meanwhile, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe passed a resolution on July 3 to acknowledge the Ukrainian Famine, despite objections from Russia and Kazakhstan. The resolution fell short of calling it an act of genocide. Speaker of the Russian Federation Council, Sergey Mironov, called the resolution “complete nonsense.”
Click here for full article from Kyiv Post about - Vlad and the spinmeister: The ABC's of Holodomor denial.

The famine in Ukraine through the eyes of foreign diplomats

In 1933 Mendel Khataevich, a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Ukraine (Bolshevik) 'I wonder which bolshivik party he represented?', declared that “a bitter struggle is being waged between the peasants and our government. It is a life-and-death struggle. This year was a decisive test of our strength and endurance. We needed a famine to show them who is boss here. It claimed millions of lives, but the collective farm system has been established, we have won the war.”
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U.N. denies Ukraine's genocide claim

NEW YORK, July 12 (UPI) -- The United Nations General Assembly has decided not to put genocide claims by Ukraine onto its current session agenda, Russian officials said Saturday.

Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin lobbied the General Assembly against opening discussions on Ukraine's claim that the catastrophic 1932-33 famine, which historians blame on Josef Stalin's failed efforts at collectivization, amounted to genocide.

The U.N.'s Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe went so far as to adopt a resolution condemning the famine, but fell short of recognizing it as an act of genocide, Churkin said.

"We believe it would be a disservice to the memories of hundreds of thousands of people who died of hunger in other countries and regions of the former Soviet Union to raise this issue at the U.N., in relation to only one of the regions that suffered," he told the Russian news service RIA Novosti.

Churkin said it wasn't only Ukraine that starved in what he called "a tragic page in the shared history of the peoples of the Soviet Union," but also Belarus, the Volga area, the Black Sea area, the Don area and the North Caucasus.

Source:UPI

Ukraine to investigate whether devastating 1932-33 Soviet-era famine was genocide

The probe is likely to anger neighboring Russia, which insists the famine was not genocide because Russians and other ethnic groups also suffered.

Verstyuk said the investigation is not aimed at extracting any compensation from Russia, the Soviet Union's legal successor.

"We are not putting forward any material or moral claims. What matters for us is to condemn Stalin's regime and those who surrounded him," Verstyuk said.

Estimates of the number of people who perished differ wildly. Yushchenko estimates up to 10 million Ukrainians died, while Stanislav Kulchitsky, a Ukrainian historian, believes 3.5 million perished.

Click here to view full article published in Kyiv Post

Annals of Neo-Soviet "Education" -- Denying Holodomor

A May 15th story in the Moscow Times about the repugnant parade of Soviet military hardware through Red Square a few days earlier stated:

After the parade, Medvedev hosted a champagne reception at the Kremlin for veterans. Medvedev has also sent out congratulatory telegrams to the leaders of other former Soviet republics. In his note to Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko, Medvedev warned him against any attempt to justify the Nazi crimes and "question the liberating mission of the Soviet Army," the Kremlin said. Many in Ukraine sided with Nazi Germany during the war, and who fought against the Soviets have been recognized and praised Ukrainian veteransunder Yushchenko. Putin, for his part, sent out congratulations to the prime ministers of the same countries, and in his telegram to Tbilisi he wished peace and well-being to the Georgian people. Relations with Georgia recently sank to a new low after Moscow increased the number of peacekeepers in Georgia's breakaway republic of Abkhazia, sparking fears of an armed conflict.

Click here for full article from Publius Pundit.

Ukraine is Russia’s best hope for geopolitical and cultural survival

Ukraine is a threat, however, not to the safety of Russia, but to Vladimir Putin's authoritarian state model, which is absolutely hostile to the West. It is essential for the Kremlin masters that the experience of their former neighbors who have chosen their own directions and models will never seem appealing to Russian citizens. They fear Ukraine, and its success, because it could offer an alternative to their path for Russia.
Click here to view full story from Kyiv Post website.

The truth about the Ukrainian genocide

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Great Famine in Ukraine, during which up to 10-million Ukrainians perished. The United States and others have recognized that it amounted to genocide. The Russian Duma, however, maintains the famine was only an unfortunate result of Soviet collectivization.

What actually happened in Ukraine in 1932-33? And did it really amount to genocide?

Full article from the National Post can be viewed here.

Britain and Russia: All is still not well

The conclusion to be drawn from these latest comments is that Britain believes that the Russian security service the FSB was operating largely independently, but in a permissive environment in which the Kremlin signalled that action against critics was allowed.

The Russian parliament even passed a law making it legal to carry out assassinations abroad.

You can read the full story here.

OSCE passes resolution on 1932-33 famine in Ukraine

ASTANA, July 3 (RIA Novosti) -- The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly adopted a resolution on Thursday condemning the 1932-33 famine in Ukraine but falling short of recognizing it as an act of genocide.
Members of parliament from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's 56 member states are currently meeting in Kazakhstan's capital, Astana, for their annual session.
At its spring session in April, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) endorsed a move by a number of Ukrainian politicians that the famine or the Holodomor be considered an act of genocide against Ukrainians by the Soviet authorities.
Russia's delegation, however, objected to the use of such language.
In late 2006 Ukraine's parliament recognized the Stalin-era famine as an act of genocide, but Moscow has consistently rejected Ukraine's interpretation of the Holodomor.
Estimates vary widely as to the number of deaths in Ukraine in the early 1930s caused by the forced collectivization, along with the devastating purges of the Ukrainian intelligentsia, religious leaders and politicians under Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. Some sources cite figures of over 7 million. ASTANA, July 3 (RIA Novosti) -- The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly adopted a resolution on Thursday condemning the 1932-33 famine in Ukraine but falling short of recognizing it as an act of genocide.
Members of parliament from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's 56 member states are currently meeting in Kazakhstan's capital, Astana, for their annual session.
At its spring session in April, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) endorsed a move by a number of Ukrainian politicians that the famine or the Holodomor be considered an act of genocide against Ukrainians by the Soviet authorities.
Russia's delegation, however, objected to the use of such language.
In late 2006 Ukraine's parliament recognized the Stalin-era famine as an act of genocide, but Moscow has consistently rejected Ukraine's interpretation of the Holodomor.
Estimates vary widely as to the number of deaths in Ukraine in the early 1930s caused by the forced collectivization, along with the devastating purges of the Ukrainian intelligentsia, religious leaders and politicians under Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. Some sources cite figures of over 7 million.

Why the Kremlin Is So Scared of Ukraine

Ukraine's success will mark the political death of Putinism -- the squalid and bankrupt philosophy of "KGB capitalists." If Ukraine succeeds in its European choice, if it is able to make it work, it can settle the question that has bedeviled Russian culture for centuries -- Russia or the West? So the best way to help Russia today is to support Ukraine's claim that it belongs to Europe and its institutions. This will influence the Kremlin's political mentality more than anything else.
Read full story from Moscow Times here.

Ukraine to erect statue of wartime nationalist leader

LVIV, July 1 (RIA Novosti) - A statue of Ukraine's wartime nationalist leader Stepan Bandera will be erected in Lutsk in western Ukraine, the city council said Tuesday.

The city's mayor, Bohdan Shyba, has instructed the local land department to allocate a plot for the monument by July 10.

Bandera was one of the leaders of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) which fought with the Soviet Army during the World War II. Following the invasion of German troops in the summer of 1941, Bandera called on Ukrainians "to help the German army in the fight against Moscow and Bolshevism."

Russia and Ukraine have been involved in a series of disputes concerning their common history.

Ukraine has decided to celebrate next year the 350th anniversary of the 1659 Battle of Konotop, in which the Ukrainian army of Ivan Vyhovsky and his Polish allies defeated Russian forces.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said certain political forces in Ukraine were trying to "find in the ... Russian-Ukrainian common history events and characters memorable only for the fact that they were acting against Moscow, Russia and Russians."

The historical sparring has developed into an unofficial war of monuments. In October 2007, the western Ukrainian city of Lvov inaugurated a statue of Stepan Bandera and adopted a resolution establishing the "Award of Stepan Bandera," while a sculpture of Catherine the Great was erected in the Crimean port of Sevastopol as part of its 225th anniversary celebrations this June.