Holodomor: Recognition and erasure (1991–2025)

1) Time range

2006-11-28

2) Group profile

Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine · Law No. 376-V on President Yushchenko's draftSelector: 450 deputies; 233 voted for

3) Decisions

1. Recognised the Holodomor as genocide of the Ukrainian people
2. Dropped the fine for public denial from the draft (Speaker Moroz)

KHPG

1) Time range

2008-04-02

2) Group profile

State Duma of the Russian Federation · Statement on the 1930s famineSelector: 450 deputies; 370 for, 56 against

3) Decisions

1. Declared there was no historical proof the famine targeted Ukrainians
2. Filed the statement at the UN (A/62/813)

UN Digital Library

1) Time range

2008-12-18 … 2009

2) Human profile

Vasily Khristoforov; Vladimir Kozlov · Head of the FSB Registration and Archives Department; head of Rosarkhiv

3) Decisions

1. Khristoforov called the Holodomor "a Ukrainian invention" while acknowledging many files stay closed
2. Kozlov said the documents refute the genocide thesis

Affected

Access to the key archives, which stay largely closed

RFE/RL

1) Time range

2010-01-13

2) Group profile

Kyiv Court of Appeal · Judge V. M. Skavronik, criminal file No. 1-33/2010Selector: Kyiv

3) Decisions

1. Found Stalin, Molotov, Kaganovich, Postyshev, Kosior, Chubar and Khataevich guilty of genocide of part of the Ukrainian national group
2. Closed the case because all seven were dead; used a demographic report of 3,941,000 deaths

KHPGHolodomor Museum

1) Time range

2010-03-11 … 2010-04-27

2) Human profile

Viktor Yanukovych · President of Ukraine

3) Decisions

1. Holodomor pages removed from the presidential website
2. SBU halted declassification; the SBU archive director Volodymyr Viatrovych was dismissed
3. Told PACE the genocide label was wrong

KHPG archive

1) Time range

2011-12-01 … 2017-06-05

2) Group profile

Meshchansky District Court, Moscow; Russian Ministry of Justice · Federal List of Extremist MaterialsSelector: Moscow

3) Decisions

1. Listed Holodomor books seized from the Library of Ukrainian Literature (2011)
2. Listed Lemkin's "Soviet Genocide in Ukraine" (2015)
3. The library's director was convicted in 2017 and the library closed

Gap

The library case centred on other books; its Holodomor link is medium confidence.

KHPGEuromaidan Press

1) Time range

2022-10-19 … 2025-04

2) Group profile

Russian occupation administrations · Mariupol city administration; Kherson oblast occupation authorities; Luhansk city head Yana PashchenkoSelector: Occupied Donetsk, Kherson and Luhansk oblasts and Crimea

3) Decisions

1. Mariupol, 19 Oct 2022: the 2004 memorial taken down by crane, its granite recycled
2. Kherson oblast, Nov 2023: 13–14 memorials demolished
3. Luhansk, 17 Jul 2024: the 2008 memorial removed "at the demand of veterans"
4. Libraries and schools told to pull Holodomor books (Luhansk Jan 2023, Crimea Apr 2024)

Gap

Only the Luhansk removal names an official; most reporting comes from Ukrainian government and NGO channels.

MeduzaNovaya Gazeta EuropeEuromaidan Press

1) Time range

2022-11-30 … 2023-04-01

2) Group profile

Bundestag; European Parliament; French National Assembly · Genocide recognitions after the full-scale invasionSelector: EP: 507 for, 12 against, 17 abstentions; France: 168 for, 2 against

3) Decisions

1. Bundestag recognised the Holodomor as genocide (30 Nov 2022); the European Parliament (15 Dec 2022) and France (28 Mar 2023) followed
2. Russia's MFA rejected the Bundestag vote; spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called the French vote anti-Russian zeal (1 Apr 2023)

Gap

Recognition counts differ: EN Wikipedia 34 countries, RU 32, UK 24.

EN Wikipedia · Holodomor genocide questionLenta.ru