Ukraine Commemorates Victims Of Stalin-Era Famine

On 25 November, Yushchenko called on the international community to recognize as genocide the famine that Soviet dictator Josef Stalin provoked in the winter of 1932-33 when he imposed grain requisitioning as part of his campaign to force Ukrainian peasants to join collective farms. Much of the Ukrainian grain was sold to make money for the Soviet industrialization campaign as Ukrainians starved.

Later in the day, Yushchenko is expected to participate in a commemorative rally where relatives and survivors will light 33,000 candles - representing the number of people who were dying daily at the famine's height.

(AFP)