Legacy of Ukraine’s Soviet-era Great Famine casts shadow over Putin’s words and actions

New York – Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and his rejection of its legitimacy to exist as an independent nation has made that country an unwilling pawn in the conflict between the U.S., its European partners and Russia.

As some expected, Putin responded to the sanctions imposed by U.S. President Joe Biden and other global leaders with threats of retaliation. That has set the stage for a greater conflict with potentially ominous and far-reaching consequences — and Ukrainian civilians, mainly children, will carry the biggest burden.

On July 12, Russian President Putin wrote an article titled, “On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians,” in which he stressed the powerful ties that unite both countries.

A one-sided, rambling historical description of the special relationship between the two nations, the article stated that, “In 1922, when the USSR was created, with the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic becoming one of its founders, a rather fierce debate among the Bolshevik leaders resulted in the implementation of Lenin’s plan to form a union state as a federation of equal republics.

“The right for the republics to freely secede from the Union was included in the text of the Declaration on the Creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and, subsequently, in the 1924 USSR Constitution. By doing so, the authors planted in the foundation of our statehood the most dangerous time bomb, which exploded the moment the safety mechanism provided by the leading role of the CPSU (Communist Party of the Soviet Union) was gone, the party itself collapsing from within.”

Although there are obvious historical ties with the Ukrainian people, Russia’s claims of brotherly relations with Ukraine dismisses the lasting trauma caused by the Soviet Union during the Holodomor, or Great Famine, that lasted from 1932 to 1933. A United Nations statement signed by 25 countries in 2003 recognized that 7 to 10 million people died during that government-caused famine.

Since 2006, the Holodomor has been recognized as genocide by Ukraine and 15 other countries. For many years, the Soviet Union even denied the existence of the famine. Russia still dismisses the claim while insisting, without any serious evidence, that genocide was being carried out by government forces in Ukraine’s separatist regions. This is just more evidence that defining the meaning of words is a privilege afforded to the powerful.

Some scholars believe that the then-Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin, intentionally caused the famine in order to crush Ukraine’s independence movement; others believe that this man-made disaster was the consequence of the USSR’s push to rapidly industrialize and the forced collectivization of Ukrainian agriculture.

Malnutrition and disease decimated the population. British historian R.W. Davies concluded that in 1932-1933 there were 1.2 million cases of typhus and 500,000 cases of typhoid fever. According to historian Stephen G. Wheatcroft, many official statistics from this period were repressed and many deaths went unregistered.

In 1945, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic joined 50 other countries to become one of the United Nations founding members. On July 16, 1990, Ukraine’s parliament adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine, establishing the principles of self-determination, democracy, independence and the prioritizing of Ukrainian law over Soviet Law. The referendum of Dec. 1, 1991, approved the Act of Independence with a 92% majority. Ukraine finally became an independent nation.

In his article, President Putin wrote, “We respect the Ukrainian language and traditions. We respect Ukrainians’ desire to see their country free, safe and prosperous.” And he concluded, “I will say one thing — Russia has never been and will never be ‘anti-Ukraine.’ And what Ukraine will be — it is up to its citizens to decide.”

These lofty words and feelings were betrayed by the brutal invasion of that country. If history teaches the world anything, it is that the ghosts of the Holodomor will continue to haunt Putin and Russia.

Cesar Chelala is an international public health consultant and writer on human rights issues. He has conducted health-related missions in over 50 countries worldwide.