"We hope that your decision to recognize Holodomor as an act of genocide will give the entire world the opportunity to draw the necessary conclusions on what happened in Ukraine during Stalin's repression," the Ukrainian PM told the 2008 PACE spring session.
In late 2006 Ukraine's parliament recognized the Stalin-era famine as an act of genocide, Moscow has consistently rejected Ukraine's interpretation of Holodomor.
Estimates vary widely as to the number of deaths in Ukraine in the early 1930s caused by forced collectivization, along with devastating purges of the Ukrainian intelligentsia, religious leaders and politicians under Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. Some sources cite figures over 7 million.
Konstantin Kosachyov, who heads the Russian delegation to PACE and the international affairs committee at the lower house of Russia's parliament, announced on Wednesday that PACE would consider a Russian draft resolution on the issue on Friday, April 18.
"We have submitted to the Assembly a draft resolution on the issue dedicated to the tragic famine in the Soviet Union and urging the commemoration of all the victims - Russians, Ukrainians, Kazakhs and people of other nationalities," Kosachyov told Russia's Vesti TV.
The PACE bureau will also consider a Ukrainian draft resolution, which proposes commemorating Ukrainian victims only.
