(07/06/10) -

Russians Reject Apology to Ukraine Over Famine

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Most people in Russia think the government should not apologize to the Ukrainian people over the famine of the 1930s, according to a poll by the Yury Levada Analytical Center. 52 per cent of respondent share this view, while 23 per cent think Russia should apologize to the Ukrainians like it did with the Poles for the Katyn massacre.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Most people in Russia think the government should not apologize to the Ukrainian people over the famine of the 1930s, according to a poll by the Yury Levada Analytical Center. 52 per cent of respondent share this view, while 23 per cent think Russia should apologize to the Ukrainians like it did with the Poles for the Katyn massacre.

Josef Stalin was the second leader of the Soviet Union, taking over after the death of Vladimir Lenin in 1924. Stalin was responsible for a series of repressive campaigns—known as the Great Purge—during the 1930s. During his tenure, Stalin eliminated all possible political opposition through executions and internal exile.

In 1932 and 1933, millions of Ukrainians starved to death as a direct consequence of Stalin’s policies in Soviet Ukraine. The events are also known as the Holodomor famine.

Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin recently apologized—although not officially—for the Katyn massacre in Poland, in which 20,000 Polish nationals were killed with the complacency of Joseph Stalin in 1940. While visiting Katyn in April, Putin spoke of "shared memory and shame" of the Stalin victims, but also wished for an end to "always dividing countries into those who are right and those who are guilty."

Polling Data

Do you think the Russian government should apologize to the Ukrainian people for the famine of the 1930s, just as it has recently apologized to the Polish people for the tragedy of Katyn?