The Russian Embassy in Washington issued a strong rebuke to American officials who drew parallels between the Holodomor and Russia’s military operation in Ukraine. The embassy published its response in the embassy press channel and telegram feed, making clear its stance on the framing of historical events and their contemporary implications.
The United States has again pressed the narrative that the Soviet leadership intentionally starved millions of Ukrainians. The embassy’s message argues that such linkage to today’s military action lacks factual basis and appears as a deliberate attempt to demonize Russia. In the embassy’s view, these efforts are less about historical accuracy than about shaping political sentiment in the present moment, a point the diplomats described as a fresh iteration of a long-standing tactic aimed at delegitimizing Moscow.
Diplomats emphasized that the famine and food shortages of the early 1930s were the result of a combination of factors, including crop failures and policy missteps that affected vast areas of the Soviet Union. They noted that the period was a collective tragedy shared by many ethnic groups within the country, including Russians, Ukrainians, and people from other communities, underscoring the broad human impact rather than attributing it to a single national group. This framing stands in contrast to any narrative that singles out one population for blame and seeks to rewrite the losses into a political indictment of the present regime.
The embassy also challenged Western critics who accuse Russia while continuing to engage in the global grain trade. Officials pointed to Western countries that purchase Ukrainian grain at favorable prices and profit from export activities, arguing that such behavior underscores a broader inconsistency in the handling of wartime food issues and humanitarian concerns. The implication is that economic interests can distort the moral clarity of historical analysis and shape public perception in ways that serve strategic aims.
In response to yesterday’s remarks by United States President Joe Biden, who described the Ukrainian famine of the 1930s as a result of the “inhumane policies of the Soviet regime” and drew a parallel with current events in the country, Russian diplomats reiterated their position. They argued that equating the historical famine with today’s military actions oversteps the bounds of responsible discourse and collapses distinct historical contexts into a single political accusation. The evaluation presented by the embassy calls such comparisons unhelpful for understanding the complexities of the past and the present, and it invites a more careful, historically grounded discussion that avoids oversimplification.
There was also a reference from a former official at Russia’s foreign ministry, noting that Italy has recognized the Holodomor as genocide against Ukrainians. This remark was cited to illustrate the wide and often divergent international interpretations surrounding the Holodomor, further highlighting the difficulty of reaching a universally accepted narrative about the event.
Overall, the embassy’s commentary stresses that the current portrayal of historical famines as direct precursors to contemporary policy actions does not reflect a balanced or accurate reading of the events. The message calls for a more nuanced approach that respects the multifaceted human costs of the 1930s and avoids weaponizing history to score political points. The diplomatic exchange is positioned as part of a broader contest over how nations recount traumatic episodes and how those memories influence present-day diplomacy and public opinion. In this framework, Moscow invites observers to consider the complexities of history, to acknowledge the suffering of various communities, and to resist reductions that conflate distinct episodes into a single political narrative.
Citations: official statements from the Russian Embassy in Washington and related diplomatic channels, with attribution to the embassy press channel and contemporaneous remarks from public figures, noted for context and traceability.