Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko put forward an initiative
to call an international tribunal on the crimes of communism.
I think that his initiative should be completely supported
by the Russian leaders. This would be a good method to finally
give a distinct state assessment to the criminal acts of
Bolsheviks – communists.
Certainly it would be better if we could initiate such
a tribunal in our country. As despite the Famine genocide,
the Russian nation and other nations living in Russia suffered
far more from the Bolshevik-Stalinist genocide than the
Ukrainian nation.
Speaking about crimes against people, I should point out
that they took place not only in the form of genocide. Maybe
Viktor Yuschenko did not think about this, as if he did
he would not propose such an idea.
Artificial division of nations conducted throughout the
Soviet history is a crime. Maybe not so grave as genocide,
but nonetheless a crime.
Separation of nations – without referendums or other forms
allowing them to demonstrate their will – constitutes a
crime. Nikita Khruschyov’s arbitrary rule in transfer of
Crimea to Ukraine is an especially cynical criminal act.
The initiators of the Belovezh agreements (Ed. The hasty
agreements between the heads of Russia, Ukraine and Byelorussia
on creation of the CIS) are also culprits here, but they
acted on a legitimate basis prepared by the communists.
I had a chance to word this out in the State Duma in 1999
during discussion of impeachment to Boris Yeltsin.
If such a tribunal is objective, it should consider national-territorial
aspects of the crimes of communism. In this case it should
sentence not only criminals but criminal borders too.
However the latter is impossible within the framework of
a domestic tribunal.
However, Germany showed an example of annulment of internationally
recognised borders for German reunification in 1989.
A nation responsible for fascism and loosing the Second
World War had obtained a right to reunification two years
before the nation winning over fascism finally lost this
right.
Maybe all this is not that final? Is it possible to amend
such a glaring historical injustice? The question directly
addresses the international tribunal on the communist crimes.
And if such tribunal is consistent and objective, it can
amend the consequences of the crimes of communism.
Unfortunately it is impossible to bring back to life the
victims of the terror, however, it is possible to return
to the nations the lands taken from them. This should be
done not by force or with the help of war, but by means
of decisions of the international community based on the
legitimate will of the people. However, it makes sense to
create such a tribunal only after the power bodies [in Russia]
begin to be formed in a democratic way rather than via fraudulent
elections. In the opposite Russia’s participation in such
a tribunal won’t be legitimate.
See also:
the
original at the Echo Mosckvi web-site
Overcoming
Stalin’s Legacy
