Germany recognises Stalin famine in Ukraine as 'genocide'
German lawmakers on Wednesday approved a
resolution declaring as "genocide" the 1930s starvation of millions in Ukraine
under Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, adopting language used by Kyiv.
The joint text passed by members of parliament from Germany's centre-left-led coalition and the opposition conservatives is intended as a "warning" to Russia as Ukraine faces a potential hunger crisis this winter due to Moscow's invasion.
Only the extreme right and left-wing parties abstained from voting on the resolution in the lower house of the German parliament, the Bundestag.
"I thank the Bundestag for this historic decision," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tweeted on Wednesday. "The truth always wins."
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.
Moscow rejects Kyiv's account, placing the events in the broader context of famines that devastated regions of Central Asia and Russia.
The current conflict has fuelled fears that history may repeat itself. Russia's targeting of grain storage facilities and its blockade of Ukraine's Black Sea exports have sparked accusations that Moscow is again using food as a weapon of war.
Robin Wagener of Germany's Green party, one of the resolution's initiators, said Russian President Vladimir Putin operated "in the cruel and criminal tradition of Stalin".
"Once more, the basis for life in Ukraine is meant to be taken away through violence and terror, and the entire country brought to heel," he told the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
Wagener said calling Holodomor a genocide was intended as a "message of warning" to Moscow.
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The joint text passed by members of parliament from Germany's centre-left-led coalition and the opposition conservatives is intended as a "warning" to Russia as Ukraine faces a potential hunger crisis this winter due to Moscow's invasion.
Only the extreme right and left-wing parties abstained from voting on the resolution in the lower house of the German parliament, the Bundestag.
"I thank the Bundestag for this historic decision," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tweeted on Wednesday. "The truth always wins."
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.
Moscow rejects Kyiv's account, placing the events in the broader context of famines that devastated regions of Central Asia and Russia.
The current conflict has fuelled fears that history may repeat itself. Russia's targeting of grain storage facilities and its blockade of Ukraine's Black Sea exports have sparked accusations that Moscow is again using food as a weapon of war.
Robin Wagener of Germany's Green party, one of the resolution's initiators, said Russian President Vladimir Putin operated "in the cruel and criminal tradition of Stalin".
"Once more, the basis for life in Ukraine is meant to be taken away through violence and terror, and the entire country brought to heel," he told the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
Wagener said calling Holodomor a genocide was intended as a "message of warning" to Moscow.
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