PROBLEMATIC ISSUES IN THE RECOGNITION OF THE HOLODOMOR BY THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA AS GENOCIDE OF THE UKRAINIAN PEOPLE

Abstract

The article analyses the fifteen-year journey of the Republic of Croatia to recognise the Holodomor of 1932-1933 in Ukraine as genocide of the Ukrainian people. It is noted that, unfortunately, the long-term strategic partnership that developed between our countries had little effect on Croatia expressing its attitude to the terrible crime of the communist regime at the official level. In this case, as a rule, the Ukrainian State did not do enough. It is noted that during the presidency of V. Yanukovych in Ukraine, not only practically no attention was paid to the international work on clarifying the issues of the Holodomor, but also V. Yanukovych himself made an illegal statement that recognizing the Holodomor of 1932-1933 as a fact of genocide of Ukrainians is wrong and unfair. This statement not only demonstrated V. Yanukovych's disdain for millions of innocent victims of the Ukrainian genocide, but also crossed out already existing developments, including and in the Republic of Croatia. V. Yanukovych actually committed a crime - he violated the Law of Ukraine “On the Holodomor of 1932-1933 in Ukraine”. It is emphasized that the greatest efforts in informing the Croatian public and the political elite in the Republic of Croatia were made by activists of the Ukrainian diaspora. Due to their efforts, since the beginning of the 1990s, events were regularly held to honor the memory of those who died during the Holodomor. Ukrainian cultural and educational societies published books, brochures, organized exhibitions, supported the international campaign “Unquenchable Candle”, etc. Moreover, the work was carried out in two directions - for the general public of citizens of the Republic of Croatia and for Ukrainians in Croatia. It is emphasized that significant efforts of our diaspora were directed to work with Croatian parliamentarians, on whom the official recognition of the Holodomor as genocide ultimately depended. It is noted that representatives of the Ukrainian Embassy, who were co-organizers of events honoring the victims of the Holodomor, were also actively involved in this work, and worked to spread information about this crime of the communist regime. It is indicated that the full-scale invasion of Russia into Ukraine on February 24, 2022 and the new crimes against humanity committed by Russian soldiers became the decisive argument that convinced the political elite of the Republic of Croatia to recognize the Holodomor as a genocide of the Ukrainian people.