The UN is once again almost united against Russia. The General Assembly on Wednesday condemned with an “overwhelming” majority the “illegal annexations” of Ukrainian territories, and sent according to Joe Biden a “clear message” to Moscow.
The 193 member states meeting urgently since Monday adopted this resolution with 143 votes in favor, against five countries against and 35 who abstained, including China, India, Pakistan and South Africa. The five states that voted against are, unsurprisingly, Russia, Belarus, Syria, North Korea and Nicaragua.
The Kremlin a little less supported
Compared to a March vote condemning the invasion of Ukraine, support for Russia has eroded ever so slightly. Bangladesh, Iraq and Senegal, which abstained in March, this time voted to condemn Moscow. Eritrea, which had rejected the resolution in March, however abstained. Finally, Nicaragua, which is coming under ever harsher criticism from the international community in terms of human rights, has taken the opposite path, since it abstained in March and this time refused to condemn Moscow.
With this text, co-drafted by the European Union and presented by Ukraine, the West, led by Washington, intended to demonstrate that President Vladimir Putin was “isolated” on the international scene, seven months after the outbreak of war.
Before the vote, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield urged as many countries as possible not to abstain: “Today Russia is invading Ukraine. But tomorrow the territory of another nation could be violated. It could be you. You could be the next” country. His French counterpart Nicolas de Rivière added: “By invading its neighbour, Russia has decided to open the way to other wars of annexation. What is happening today in Europe may be happening elsewhere tomorrow: in Asia, Africa, Latin America”.
In the end, the resolution “condemns the attempted illegal annexations” of the regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporozhye and Kherson after “alleged illegal referendums” and stresses that these actions have “no validity” under international law. The text also calls for no state to recognize these annexations and calls for the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine. Thus, the UN demands that Moscow “immediately and unconditionally reconsider its decision of September 29” relating to the integration of the Ukrainian regions within Russia.
On September 30, Moscow used its veto to block the same resolution in the Security Council condemning the annexations in Ukraine. Apart from the Russian veto, the text had collected 10 votes for out of the 15 members of the Council. China, India, Brazil and Gabon had abstained and the West had already touted proof of Russia’s isolation.