Ukraine assembly says Soviet famine was "genocide"

KIEV, Nov 28 (Reuters) Ukraine's parliament today formally denounced as ''genocide of the Ukrainian people'' the man-made famine in 1932-33 that killed millions during Josef Stalin's forced collectivisation drive.

A total of 233 members in the 450-seat assembly approved the bill long sought by President Viktor Yushchenko to press for world recognition of the calamity caused by the requisition of grain to break the spirit of Ukraine's ''kurkuly'' farmers.

Historians estimate that about 7.5 million people died in the campaign -- the worst of three famines that gripped Ukraine under Soviet rule.

Following heated debate, deputies agreed with a proposal by parliament's speaker to remove a provision making it a crime to deny the existence of the famine.

They also abandoned a proposal to describe the famine as a ''genocide of the Ukrainian nation'' which would have singled out ethnic Ukrainians as the principal victims.

Allies of the pro-Western Yushchenko backed the measure, along with opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, while Communists opposed it and new Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich's Regions Party had reservations.

The famine, never recognised by the Soviet Union, was only commemorated after the end of communism. Yushchenko, elected after mass ''Orange Revolution'' protests in 2004, last week presided over the second annual official ceremony.

The systematic confiscation of grain and livestock left millions to die in their homes or in the street, with soldiers dumping bodies into pits. Cannibalism became rife.

Russia has resisted Kiev's requests to acknowledge the tragedy as genocide, fearing that could fuel anti-Russian sentiment in Ukraine.

REUTERS SBA BST0053