The concept of genocide had not been defined until 1951, officials argue.

The German foreign ministry advocates the rejection of the petition for recognition of the Holodomor of 1932-1933 in Ukraine by Soviet authorities as genocide, that's according to a member of the Bundestag Petition Committee, MP from the ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Arnold Vaatz.

It is noted that on Monday, an open meeting of the Bundestag Petition Committee was held, where the relevant petition was discussed, according to Deutsche Welle.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs wants the petition to be rejected with the justification that the concept of genocide had not been defined until 1951. In my opinion, this argument is very technocratic. The same goes for another argument – that, besides Ukrainians, this man-made famine affected other victims, in particular in Russia and the Caucasus. This argument, in my opinion, is also more like an excuse," said Vaatz.

Read alsoZelensky calls on Israel to recognize Holodomor as genocide of Ukrainian people

According to the MP, such an argument is quite dangerous.

"It contradicts the rightful assessment of the illegal actions of the National Socialist regime in Germany. After all, the Nazis might soon begin to demand that Hitler’s genocide, which also took place before the this concept was defined, is also overestimated. After all, this also happened before 1951," said the committee member.

Also, in his opinion, such a decision by the foreign ministry "means kneeling before Russia."

"Obviously, no one wants to create new issues of confrontation with Russia. Moreover, many states have already spoken about how they look at the Holodomor, namely: that it was genocide. And it's clear that Germany’s voice in this context would have significant weight," he says.

"Thus, it can be expected that the petition committee will not submit the petition to the foreign ministry with requests to bring it to life, but, on the contrary, will reject it," Vaatz predicts.

He noted that he considered this wrong.

"Colleagues who think the same are most likely to apply to vote for this petition in the Bundestag as a separate item. But, most likely, there will be no majority to pass this petition in the Bundestag," the deputy noted.