United Nations: Ukraine has asked the General Assembly to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Holodomor or Great Famine of 1932-33, which it claimed had been caused by "Joseph Stalin's agricultural collectivisation policies" and is a reminder of the inhumanity of "totalitarian regimes".
"The Holodomor, which literally meant killing by hunger, had been caused by Joseph Stalin's agricultural collectivisation policies, because human life [meant] nothing compared to the gigantic economic and military plans of the regime," Ukraine Ambassador to the UN Yuriy Sergeyev said.
Taking strong objection to Ukraine seeking commemoration for its people, Russian UN ambassador Vitlay Churkin had said earlier this week that the Ukrainian government should not claim that the famine was directed at its people and had called it a tactic to divert attention of the people from the crisis it is facing at home.
But talking to reporters today, Sergeyev said it was important to commemorate the event as a human rights issue and as a reminder of the inhumanity of totalitarian regimes and to prevent similar crimes in the future.
"It had not only affected people of Ukrainian ethnicity but of the many ethnic groups who lived in Ukraine at that time as well as in other areas of the former Soviet Union. Upwards of 10 million people, one-third of Ukraine's population, had died there," he added.
