Ukraine famine recognised as genocide

The Ukrainian Parliament has adopted a bill recognising the 1932 to 1933 forced famine as genocide against the Ukrainians . The famine, known as Holodomor or Death by Hunger, was orchestrated by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.

It has killed up to10 million Ukrainians – almost one-third of its population.

The UN's definition of genocide is an act of deliberate and systematic destruction of cultural, political or rational groups' destruction. Yulia Tymoshenko's block and Viktor Yushenko, the President of Ukraine, wanted to place the definition of genocide into law, because they are sure that Stalin's regime was particularly against the Ukraine nation.

However the Party of Regions did not want to include the term genocide, because they said that other nationalities suffered in the Famine as well, including Russians, Kazakhs, Poles and other nationalities living in the territory of Ukraine. The bill was passed in the third version. It is the presidential version with slide amendments made by Alexandr Moroz. The wording of the bill says that the famine is recognised as an act against the people of Ukraine, not against the nation of Ukrainians, as it was in the first, initial version.