Russia’s “attempted illegal annexation” of four regions of Ukraine was strongly denounced and called for to be reversed by the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday. This action was a sign of the strong international opposition to the seven-month war and Moscow’s attempt to annex its neighbor’s territory.
The 193-member international organization voted 143-5 with 35 abstentions. Out of the four resolutions the General Assembly has passed since Russian soldiers invaded Ukraine on February 24, it was this one that showed the most support for Ukraine and against Russia.
The resolution was supported by the West in reaction to Russia’s last month stated annexation of the provinces of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia in Ukraine. Moscow reacted in response to Kremlin-orchestrated “referendums” that the West and the Ukrainian government have rejected as sham elections held on seized territory during times of conflict and dislocation.
Speaker after speaker at the emergency special session of the assembly on Ukraine that had just resumed accused Russia of flouting fundamental tenets of the United Nations Charter, including respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all U.N. member states.
The United Nations was founded on the principle that “never again would one country be permitted to acquire another’s land by force,” according to U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who spoke before to the vote.
The permanent member of the U.N. Security Council with a veto said the facts were clear: Russia had sought to grab land from its neighbor by force. She encouraged all nations to denounce Russia for the annexations.
How many nations would approve the resolution was a crucial concern for its Western proponents, and the outcome exceeded even their most hopeful predictions. The General Assembly demanded an immediate Russian cease-fire, the removal of all Russian forces, and protection for all civilians on March 2 by a vote of 141-5 with 35 abstentions. On March 24, it passed a resolution demanding an urgent cease-fire, the safety of millions of civilians, and the houses, schools, and hospitals that are essential to their survival by a vote of 140-5 with 38 abstentions. The resolution also blamed Russia for the humanitarian catastrophe in Ukraine.
But on April 7, the assembly chose to exclude Russia from the U.N.’s Geneva-based Human Rights Council by a far narrower majority due to claims that Russian forces had committed war crimes in Ukraine by violating human rights. 58 people abstained, making the final result 93-24.
By a vote of 100-11 with 58 abstentions, a resolution from 2014 that upheld Ukraine’s territorial integrity and deemed the vote that resulted in Russia annexing the Crimean Peninsula unconstitutional was approved. The “yes” votes from Brazil, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and other GCC nations were among the unexpected signposts of support for Wednesday’s resolution.
Vassily Nebenzia, the ambassador of Russia to the United Nations, had pleaded with nations to abstain, calling the resolution “a politicized and blatantly confrontational text” and characterizing its proponents as “scrupulous Western blackmailers.” He expressed disappointment that there was no secret ballot, as Russia had requested.
Nebenzia reaffirmed Russia’s assertions that the votes were legitimate, stating that “the people in these territories do not wish to return to Ukraine.”
North Korea, Belarus, Syria, and Nicaragua were the four nations that joined Russia in rejecting the resolution. Among the 35 nations, China, India, Pakistan, South Africa, and Cuba chose not to participate.
The veto power of Russia, which it used on September 29 to reject criticism of Russia’s attempts to annexe Ukrainian land, has prevented the more powerful Security Council, whose resolutions are binding, from acting on Ukraine.
Contrarily, the General Assembly, where vetoes are unheard of, has already approved four resolutions denouncing Russia for its actions in Ukraine. Although not legally binding, its votes represent the consensus of the globe.
In accordance with the resolution passed on Wednesday, Moscow’s actions undermine Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, are “inconsistent” with the U.N. Charter’s tenets, and “have no legal standing and do not provide the foundation for any change in the status of certain territories of Ukraine.”
“Russia should immediately, totally, and unconditionally remove all of its armed forces from the land of Ukraine within its internationally recognized boundaries,” the document demands of Russia.
Additionally, it backs “the de-escalation of the current situation and a peaceful settlement of the crisis through political discourse, negotiation, mediation and other peaceful measures” that respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity, sovereignty, and internationally recognized boundaries.
The resolution received a lot of support during the discussion on Wednesday. Australian Ambassador Mitch Fifield urged other nations to back the resolution opposing acts of aggression and referred to Russia’s intended annexation as “illegal and a dangerous escalation.” Voters in the four “fake” referendums “faced intimidation by the Russian military and Russia’s illegitimately installed authority,” according to Irish ambassador Fergal Mythen.
Despite not saying how he would vote, Cambodian Ambassador Sovann Ke urged that internationally recognized borders “be fully respected” and stated that the “forcible annexation of regions from a sovereign country is a flagrant violation of the U.N. Charter and international laws, which is not acceptable.” Cambodia voted in favor of the resolution. Hwang Joonkook, South Korea’s ambassador, unambiguously backed Ukraine’s “sovereignty, political independence, and geographical integrity.” After the 1950–1953 Korean War, he claimed that his nation’s “own tragic experiences” “can witness that any attempt to separate a nation in whatever shape or style is only the beginning of ongoing extremely significant issues, rather than a solution,”
The ambassador for North Korea, Kim Song, endorsed the “self-determination” of the inhabitants of the four provinces that Russia acquired as a right guaranteed by the U.N. Charter and said that the outcomes must be honored.
He claimed that under the “pretext” of advancing global peace and security, the United States and other Western nations had “brutally” violated the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya without ever having their actions questioned by the Security Council. He contended that American meddling in other nations’ domestic affairs has continued into the twenty-first century. Syrian Ambassador Bassam Sabbagh demanded that nations fight attempts “to isolate Russia and to adopt double standards” and accused the General Assembly of “being exploited flagrantly by some Western countries for their own geopolitical purposes.”
