The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Wednesday overwhelmingly voted to denounce Russia’s annexation of Ukraine after Moscow vetoed the same effort in the Security Council.
The General Assembly has approved the resolution with 143 in favour and five against but 35 countries abstained including China, India, South Africa and Pakistan despite a major US diplomatic effort to seek clearer condemnation of Moscow.
The resolution “denounces the organization by the Russian Federation of so-called referendums within the internationally recognized borders of Ukraine” & “the attempted illegal annexation” announced last month of four regions by President Vladimir Putin.
It calls on all United Nations and international agencies not to recognize any changes, which were announced by Russia to borders & demands that Moscow “immediately as well as unconditionally reverse” its decisions.
Meanwhile, the ambassador of the US to the United Nations (UN), Linda Thomas-Greenfield, had urged all countries to send a message that the world “will not tolerate seizing a neighbour’s land by force.”
She said that, “Today it is Russia calling the invasion of Ukraine. But tomorrow it could be another country whose territory is violated. It could be you. You could be next. What would you expect from this chamber?”
The United States had put special energy into seeking to persuade South Africa and especially India, a growing US partner which has a historically close relationship with Russia and also abstained in the Security Council, where it holds a non-permanent seat.