STRASBOURG: The European Parliament on Thursday approved a resolution declaring the 1930s starvation of millions in Ukraine under Soviet leader Joseph Stalin a “genocide”.

The text said the EU legislature “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”.

The step comes days after Ukraine marked 90 years since the famine and as Russian forces wage a devastating war against the country. Kyiv has urged the international community to officially declare the starvation “genocide” as Ukraine confronts Moscow’s modern-day aggression.

The vote by the European parliament is likely to draw ire from Russia, where officials have increasingly sought to rehabilitate Stalin’s image under President Vladimir Putin. EU legislators urged “all the countries and international organisations which have not yet recognised the Holodomor as a genocide to do so”.

They also condemned “the current Russian regime’s manipulation of historical memory for the purpose of regime survival”. German lawmakers passed a resolution declaring the famine a genocide last month.

The 1932-33 “Holodomor” — Ukrainian for “death by starvation” — is regarded by Kyiv as a deliberate act of genocide by Stalin’s regime with the intention of wiping out the peasantry. Stalin’s campaign of forced “collectivisation” seized grain and other foodstuffs and left millions to starve. The Holodomor has long been a major sticking point in ties between Russia and Ukraine.

Published in Dawn, December 16th, 2022