“Provocative”: Russia appreciates Zelensky’s call for Israel to recognize the Holodomor as genocide

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held talks in Kiev with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky. Politicians discussed the development of bilateral relations and economic ties. A separate item was a visit to mourning events in memory of the victims of the tragedy in Babi Yar.

Following the talks, Netanyahu and Zelensky signed a series of joint documents, in particular regarding the development of language learning, as well as the expansion of the free trade agreement between the countries.

“We are expanding our free trade area and opening innovation centers in two capitals. Thus, we will jointly invest here in Ukraine, ”Netanyahu said.

In turn, Zelensky called on Israel to declare the "famine" of 1932-1933 the genocide of the Ukrainian people.

“In honor of the eternal memory of the victims of the Holocaust, in which more than 2 million Ukrainian Jews died, Ukraine calls on Israel to recognize the Holodomor as an act of genocide of the Ukrainian people,” Zelensky said.

Recall that the famine in the USSR in 1932-1933 led to the death of a significant number of people. According to various sources, the figure varies from 2 to 7.5 million people. The tragedy unfolded in several regions - Ukraine, Kazakhstan, the Volga region, the Caucasus and others. Kiev claims that this was a deliberate genocide of the Ukrainian people, but Russia categorically disagrees with this interpretation.

As has been repeatedly noted in Russia, Moscow honors the victims of the tragedy that led to them, but does not consider what happened to be the targeted extermination of Ukrainians ..

“It became the general tragedy of the Russians, Ukrainians, Kazakhs and other peoples of the country and the largest humanitarian disaster in the USSR. Attempts to present these tragic events exclusively as “the genocide of the Ukrainian people” have nothing to do with either restoring justice or historical facts, they are politicized and unscientific, ”the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement from 2018.

It is worth noting that the Israeli parliament - the Knesset - had previously received bills recognizing this famine as genocide, but so far the deputies have not accepted them. The position of Tel Aviv on this issue in August 2017 was opened by the head of the intergovernmental commission for the development of international relations between Ukraine and Israel, the Minister of Environmental Protection of the Jewish state Zeev Elkin.

“The Israeli parliament believes that issues of the past should not be decided by politicians, but by professionals, as part of a professional discourse,” Interfax-Ukraine quoted him as saying. “Therefore, I don’t think that some kind of declarative decision will be made on the Holodomor, as well as on other difficult tragic pages in the history of various nations, because this does not correspond to our parliamentary tradition.”

“Nothing can be done with the rehabilitation of the Nazis”

It is impossible to compare the Holocaust and the Holodomor, since if in the first case it is about the intentional extermination of Jews, then in the second - about the famine that affected the entire Soviet Union, said Sergei Tsekov, member of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs.

“This decision about the Holodomor (recognition of its genocide. - RT ) was“ dragged ”by Ukrainian nationalists. This is precisely the decision that undermines the foundations of the Ukrainian state. Such decisions led to the fact that Ukraine does not have an internal core that would unite all the peoples and nationalities living on its territory, it distorts its previous history. As a result of this, there is no consolidation of the Ukrainian nation, ”he told RT.

Zelensky’s appeal sounds provocative, given the fact that he’s not fighting the glorification of Nazism in Ukraine, Viktor Vodolatsky, deputy chairman of the State Duma’s committee on CIS affairs, Eurasian integration, and relations with compatriots, said in a conversation with RT.

“Any calls of Zelensky are provocative. Because he inserts into the negotiation process issues related to the return of Crimea, with the removal of the Holodomor to the level of the Holocaust, and at the same time he himself can’t do anything with the rehabilitation of the Nazis who killed Jews in Ukraine, ”he stressed .

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Choice question

An early parliamentary election will be held in Israel in September, in which Netanyahu intends to take the majority - after the last vote in April, Netanyahu was unable to form a ruling coalition, as a result of which the parliament voted for self-dissolution. This situation developed for the first time in the history of the state.

In this regard, the Prime Minister could go to Ukraine to attract immigrants from this country living in Israel, said Vladimir Olenchenko, a senior fellow at the Center for European Studies at IMEMO RAS.

“This point of view is circulating both in Ukraine and in Israel. I don’t exclude that Netanyahu’s visit may carry such a load, ”he told RT.

Olenchenko also recalled that this is the first visit of the head of the Israeli government to Ukraine over the past 20 years. Moreover, Tel Aviv’s economic interest may lie in finding a place to sell goods and attracting Ukrainian tourists, the expert emphasized.

“That is, these moments are the elements of Netanyahu’s visit to Ukraine. Zelensky, as the new president, may be interested in supporting Netanyahu in establishing contacts with the United States, ”the analyst added.