U.N. votes to condemn Russian annexation of Ukrainian territory

 U.N. votes to condemn Russian annexation of Ukrainian territory

By Karen DeYoung

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield addresses the general assembly before a vote on a resolution condemning the annexation of parts of Ukraine by Russia at U.N. headquarters in New York on Wednesday. 

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield addresses the general assembly before a vote on a resolution condemning the annexation of parts of Ukraine by Russia at U.N. headquarters in New York on Wednesday. (David Dee Delgado/Reuters)

The U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday adopted a U.S.-sponsored resolution condemning Russia’s illegal annexation of territory in Ukraine by a vote of 143-5, with 35 abstentions.

The vote was numerically nearly identical to one adopted in March, just 10 days after Russia’s February invasion of Ukraine, despite 7½ months of brutal war and appeals for support from both the United States and Russia.

While the resolution again won significantly more than the required two-thirds majority of the United Nations’ 193 members, it followed significant diplomatic efforts by both the United States and Russia to increase their margins.

Four of the five countries opposed — Russia, North Korea, Belarus and Syria — were the same. Eritrea, which last time voted no, abstained this time, while Nicaragua did the opposite.

#UNGA unequivocally rejected Russia’s illegal annexation of #Ukrainian territories, another blatant violation of the @UN Charter.

143 votes in favour confirm Russia’s international isolation.

Russia will be held accountable. The EU will stand by Ukraine for as long as it takes. 

— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) October 12, 2022

Speaking before the vote, U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the resolution was “important not just to the future of Ukraine and the future of Europe, but to the very foundations of this institution,” which she said was built on the idea “that never again would one country be allowed to take another’s territory by force.”

“Today it is Russia invading Ukraine,” she said. “But tomorrow it could be another nation whose territory is violated. You could be next.”

In some of the harshest rhetoric in the chamber since the end of the Cold War, Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya said the United States and its allies had threatened and blackmailed countries to vote in favor, using “all classic methods used by slave owners and colonizers” and using “members of the General Assembly as bit players” to achieve their own anti-Russian aims.

Nebenzya defended referendums held this month in four regions of Ukraine that are partially occupied by Russian forces. The results, with vast majorities in favor of incorporation into Russia, “speak for themselves,” he said. “The population of these regions do not want to return to Ukraine and have made a free and informed choice.”

The passed resolution said that the annexations “have no validity under international law and do not form the basis for any alteration of the status of these regions of Ukraine.”

“Every country in its heart of heart knows that an election held at the barrel of a gun is neither free nor fair,” Canadian Ambassador Robert Rae told the General Assembly. “This is an illegal occupation, it is an illegal annexation, all at gunpoint. This is not democracy.”

Many of those who abstained, including China and a number of African states, called for greater efforts toward a negotiated solution. “In the final analysis, the Ukrainian crisis has to be resolved peacefully,” China’s delegate to the session said, calling on “all parties to exercise restraint.”

The Washington Post -12 ekim 2022