1.  RUSSIA HAILS "FAILURE" OF UKRAINE'S PLANS FOR UN FAMINE RESOLUTION
"We believe that Kiev's political exploitation of the memory of millions of victims.....is blasphemy."
 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, Moscow, Russia, in Russian 24 Sep 2008 
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Wednesday, September 24, 2008 

MOSCOW - Text of "Report for the mass media on the failure of Ukraine's designs over the 'Holodomor' at the UN Human Rights Council", published on the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs website on 24 September:

On 24 September the Ukrainian delegation at the UN Human Rights Council, having failed to enlist almost any support, was forced to officially recall the draft resolution "Memory of the 1932-1933 Holodomor [famine] in Ukraine", which it had introduced earlier.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia regards this as the only correct step. It appears that the Ukrainian side is starting to realize that its initiative is confrontational and has no future.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia stresses again that attempts by Ukraine's leadership to gain international approval for the interpretation of the events of 1932-1933 on the territory of the former USSR as genocide of the Ukrainian people are politicized and aimed at sowing discord between the fraternal peoples of Russia and Ukraine.

We believe that Kiev's political exploitation of the memory of the millions of victims of the tragedy that befell the peoples of the former Soviet Union is blasphemy.

At the UN Human Rights Council and General Assembly, Russia is continuing and will continue with its line against the injection into the agenda of confrontational themes and scenarios that have nothing to do with the promotion and protection of human rights and are aimed at the attainment of opportunistic political gains.

The UN Human Rights Council, as well as the UN in general, is not the venue for pushing through biased and distorted views of historical events. History should be left to the historians, while the UN should busy itself with its direct responsibilities - mainlining international peace and security, facilitating development, and stepping up the promotion and protection of human rights in the world.
 
2.  UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT URGES WORLD TO RECOGNIZE 1930'S FAMINE AS GENOCIDE
 
5 Kanal TV, Kiev, Ukraine, in Ukrainian, Wednesday 24 Sep 08
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Wednesday, September 24, 2008

NEW YORK - President Viktor Yushchenko has urged the international community to recognize the Stalin-era famine of the 1930s as genocide against the Ukrainian nation.

Addressing the 63rd session of the UN General Assembly on 24 September, he said: "I am honoured to address the international community with a request for solidarity. This year, Ukraine is commemorating the 75th anniversary of the famine which in 1932-1933 claimed nearly ten million lives of our compatriots.
 
Our ambition is not aimed against any nation or any country. We neither elevate nor belittle our grief. The terror of famine in Ukraine was deliberate genocide in nature, accompanied by the total extermination of the national elite, public leaders and clergy. It was aimed at subjugating the multi-million nation which, as the regime admitted, could not be fully taken to Siberia."

Yushchenko said Ukraine condoled with all the peoples affected by the famine - "Russians, Belarusians, Kazakhs and dozens of other nations".

"We ask you to honour each national tragedy together and allow no new attempts to heroize Stalin's dictatorship and his regime," he continued.
He said the memory of the victims of the totalitarian regimes would help the world prevent similar tragedies in the future.

"I believe in our ability to effectively respond to each challenge facing our world. Ukraine is resolute in this cause. We will act as consistent and well-wishing partners. Everything is in our hands. I believe in our strength, will and intelligence," he said.
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Mr. E. Morgan Williams, Director
Government Affairs, Washington Office
SigmaBleyzer Private Equity Investment Group
President/CEO, U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC)
Publisher & Editor, Action Ukraine Report (AUR)
Trustee: "Holodomor: Through The Eyes of Ukrainian Artists"
1701 K Street, NW, Suite 703, Washington, D.C. 20006
Telephone: 202 437 4707; Fax 202 223 1224
[email protected]; [email protected]
www.sigmableyzer.com; www.usubc.org