RESOLUTION: On the Soviet occupation (05/15/05)

ON THE 60th ANNIVERSARY OF THE END OF WORLD WAR II

RESOLUTION: On the Soviet occupation

Following is the text of a resolution regarding the Soviet occupation of Ukraine and other nations that was adopted by several Ukrainian organizations in the diaspora (list of signatories appears at the end).

Whereas, the Russian Federation is inviting world leaders to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the defeat of Nazism on 9 May 2005;

Whereas, May 9, 1945, is generally accepted as the first day of the "Cold War" during which the USSR posed a continual, intentional and dangerous threat to the security and freedom of the peaceful democratic nations of the world;

Whereas, the Russian Federation claims that the USSR made the most important contribution, compared to the Allies of the time, in this victory over Nazism;

WHEREAS the Russian Federation has not acknowledged the USSR's collusion with Nazi Germany in invading and occupying most of Eastern and Central Europe, including western Ukraine, through the "Treaty of Non-Aggression Between Germany and the USSR and the Secret Additional Protocol, August 23, 1939" (the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact);

Whereas, the Russian Federation, as the recognized successor to the USSR, refuses to accept culpability for subjugating and coercively controlling most of the nations and peoples of Eastern and Central Europe for 50 years;

Whereas, the Russian Federation is trivializing the Stalinist and post-Stalinist crimes against subjugated peoples, including Russians;

Whereas, the Russian Federation refuses to condemn those responsible and compensate victims;

Whereas, the USSR denied legitimate self-determination to numerous peoples and nations in Eastern and Central Europe, and elsewhere within the USSR, for nearly 50 years;

Whereas, the Russian Federation is deliberately equating the concept of victory with "liberation" and rejecting any notion of the USSR's aggression against Ukraine, the Baltic states and the other captive nations of the former USSR;

Whereas, the Russian Federation's ongoing distortion of historical truth is the primary cause of the general mistrust the peoples of Eastern and Central Europe have towards Russia and of the consequent tensions in the region;

Be it resolved that Ukraine's president, His Excellency Viktor Yushchenko, honor the valor and sacrifices of all those Ukrainians who fought for Ukraine's freedom before, during and after the second world war by remaining in Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, on May 8 and 9, 2005, and by so doing also hallow the memory of all victims of Nazi and Soviet oppression.

Endorsed by: Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain, Federation of Australian Ukrainian Organizations, Le Comité pour La Défense de la Démocratie en Ukraine (CDDU), l'Union des Français d'Origine Ukrainienne (UFOU), Le Comité Ukraine 33, Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association, Ukrainian American Civil Liberties Association, Ukrainian American Justice Committee, Ukrainian Genocide-Famine Association - U.S.A.

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