RUSSIA WILL ATTEMPT TO BLOCK UKRAINIAN RESOLUTION

UNCLAS MOSCOW 002689 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL UN UK RS SUBJECT: RUSSIA WILL ATTEMPT TO BLOCK UKRAINIAN RESOLUTION ON HOLODOMOR AT UNGA THIRD COMMITTEE REF: A. STATE 93981 ¶B. 07 MOSCOW 5146 ¶1. (SBU) We delivered demarche on the U.S.'s human rights priorities at the UNGA Third Committee on September 5 to MFA Department for Humanitarian Cooperation and Human Rights First Secretary Aleksey Goltyayev, who told us that Russia would continue to oppose country specific human rights resolutions (ref A). He reiterated that the GOR was against the "politicization" of UN resolutions intended not to rectify human rights problems so much as to punish certain governments for other purposes (ref B). Goltyayev asked why the U.S. continued to support the use of the Third Committee to advance its human rights agenda while criticizing the UN Human Rights Council, which was the appropriate forum for discussing human rights issues. ¶2. (SBU) Goltyayev told us that Russia's priority at the UNGA Third Committee would be to block what it suspected would be an attempt by Ukraine to introduce a resolution condemning the Holodomor, the 1930s famine that killed millions in the former Soviet Union, as a crime against humanity. Ukraine attempted to do so in 2003, the 70th anniversary of the tragedy, and was likely to do so again to mark the 75th anniversary. Goltyayev criticized Ukraine for seeking to politicize an issue that he claimed should be dealt with by historians, not politicians and diplomats. He lamented the fact that as Kyiv "peddled" the Holodomor as a means to build Ukrainian nationalism, it fostered the country's "xenophobic tendencies." ¶3. (SBU) Goltyayev warned that should a Ukrainian-sponsored resolution pass, this would "open a Pandora's box," and the UN could see other resolutions on similar issues, including calls for countries to pay reparations for supposed crimes committed by earlier governments. He cautioned that the U.S. would not be immune from such a situation, as certain elements of its history could be distorted to appear as crimes against humanity or genocide. ¶4. (SBU) Goltyayev said the GOR would again introduce its resolution on the Inadmissibility of Certain Practices that Contribute to Fueling Contemporary Forms of Racism, which is intended to curb neo-Nazi activity. Russia considered the defamation of religion resolution "unbalanced" because it singled out only Islam and would like to see the language changed, but would still vote for the resolution out of support for the larger cause of protecting religion. Russia would support the freedom of expression resolution and urged the U.S. to reconsider its position. BEYRLE