The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which monitors and upholds human rights in the region, has recognized the 1930s starvation of millions in Ukraine under Soviet leader Joseph Stalin a “genocide.”
The text received 73 votes in favor and one against at the meeting in Strasbourg, France on Thursday, and followed a similar resolution approved by the European Parliament in December last year.
The 1932 to 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 “collectivization” seized grain and other foodstuffs and left millions to starve.
Kyiv has urged the international community to officially declare the starvation “genocide” as Ukraine confronts Moscow’s modern-day aggression following the Russian invasion last year.
Such moves draw ire from Russia, where officials have increasingly sought to rehabilitate Stalin’s image under President Vladimir Putin.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted on X that he was “grateful” for the move.
“Restoring historical justice and paying tribute to Holodomor victims sends a message that justice is inevitable for all past and present Moscow’s crimes,” he wrote.
Moscow rejects Kyiv’s account of the famine, claiming it devastated regions of Central Asia and Russia.