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BBC Monitoring Service
United Kingdom
November 23, 2002
Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma has addressed the nation on the
anniversary of the famine of 1932-33 in Ukraine. The famine was organized by
the Stalin regime and claimed millions of lives, Kuchma said. In his address
broadcast by Ukrainian commercial ICTV television on 23 November, Kuchma
described the famine as the genocide of the Ukrainian people.
Kuchma blamed the famine on the Communist authorities and criticized the
current anti-presidential opposition for siding with modern Communists:
"When I now see the Communists and the descendants of those who suffered
under the Communists uniting under the same banners, I recall the saying:
when God wants to punish somebody, he takes away his wits. In this case,
they lose if not the wits then surely the memory of all those innocent who
were tortured to death under the red banner."
Kuchma said that Ukraine should "explain the truth about the famine, its
cause and effects to the international community, to make the international
community recognize it as the act of genocide against the Ukrainian people".
Kuchma called on Ukrainians "to build up their own state on their own land,
to develop democracy and free life for everyone".
Duration: 10 minutes; Source: ICTV television, Kiev, in Ukrainian 1645 gmt
23 Nov 02
BBC Monitoring Service
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