Iceland recognizes Holodomor as genocide against Ukrainians
The Icelandic government supported a resolution recognizing the Holodomor as a genocide against the Ukrainian people, Foreign Minister Thórdís Kolbrún Reykfjörd Gylfadóttir reported on March 23.
"In November, I visited the Holodomor memorial in Kyiv. It was a heartbreaking reminder of a terrible crime," the minister wrote.
"Today, Althingi (the parliament) recognized the man-made famine of the winter of 1932–1933 as genocide perpetrated by the totalitarian government in Moscow against the people of Ukraine."
President Volodymyr Zelensky praised the decision, adding, "It is a clear signal that such crimes do not go unpunished and do not have a statute of limitations."
The Holodomor, a man-made famine that took place between 1932-33, occurred during Joseph Stalin's reign over the Soviet Union and caused an estimated 3.5 to 5 million Ukrainian deaths.
The Ukrainian government has been calling on the international community to recognize it as a genocide.
Iceland joined Belgium, which recognized the Holodomor as a genocide on March 10. The Czech Republic did so in April 2022, Germany, Romania, and Ireland in November 2022, and Bulgaria in February 2023.
In December 2022, the European Parliament also officially recognized the Holodomor as a genocide and urged Russia to issue an official apology for the atrocities committed by the Soviet regime.
