In the battle between Ukraine and Russia in the United Nations Organization (UN), the house of words, where the bombs have no influence, the victory corresponded once again to the world against Putin.
One year after the Russian invasion, the UN carried out this Thursday night by 141 votes, more than two thirds of what was required, a resolution calling for the withdrawal of Russian troops and the immediate cessation of hostilities.
Perhaps Russian President Vladimir Putin is grasping at a straw. If compared with the previous sentence of October, the “yes” to the resolution, which lacks legal value, has lost two votes and the “no” has added two. Along with Russia, Syria, Nicaragua, North Korea and Belarus remain faithful. Now Mali and Eritrea have joined.
The fact that China remained in abstention along with 31 other nations was another element of relief so that the conflict does not escalate further.
The vote deepened the isolation of Moscow, as Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba stressed.
“This is another proof that not only is the West supporting Ukraine, but this is much broader, and it has only become consolidated and solidified,” Kuleba added.
“The Assembly has spoken and has spoken very clearly, the international community is with Ukraine and wants a broad, just and lasting peace,” added Josep Borrell, senior representative of European Union diplomacy. He appeared surrounded by more than twenty Eurozone foreign ministers, including the Spanish José Manuel Albares.
The US ambassador, Linda Greenfield-Thomas, said that 141 countries condemned the war, the territoriality of Ukraine and the nuclear, energy and famine threats. “We have refused to give up hope and diplomacy,” she remarked.
The doubt was cleared. The geostrategic clash has only gotten worse in this year of war. In favor of yes, Greenfield-Thomas had predicted that the vote “will go down in history.” And he qualified that “we will see where the nations of the world are on the issue of peace in Ukraine.” It has become clear once again.
“The West blatantly ignored our concerns about the continued approach of NATO military infrastructure to our borders,” Russian Ambassador Vassili Nebenzia reiterated. “We had no choice but the special operation,” he insisted. After the resolution was not allowed to be seen.
This resolution is the only recourse left to Ukraine, with the full support of the Western bloc, to demonstrate Russia’s loneliness in the face of the impossibility of the Security Council adopting a resolution with legal value due to Moscow’s right of veto, who has already exercised it twice in this crisis.
The Assembly’s decision is not binding, much less mandatory.
Its value is symbolic, although on this occasion it had a deeper load. The challenge was to find out if these twelve months of war had eroded the vast majority that had positioned itself against Russia on four previous occasions in as many special assemblies.
The ceiling was 143 votes. Wear has only subtracted two. There were doubts about whether China would maintain its abstention or would opt to support Russia without reservations after the rapprochement between Beijing and Moscow. His representative already made it clear in her previous speech that they would maintain their position. “China will always be with peace and dialogue,” said his representative, who added that they will soon issue “a position plan on the political solution of the Ukraine crisis.”
Diplomatic sources also acknowledged that there were prior doubts about the meaning of the vote of the so-called global south. where the economic influence of the Asian giant grows, it will remain immovable or chose to put itself in profile.
The General Assembly opened a special session on Wednesday whose ultimate purpose was to vote on a resolution on Thursday, prepared by Ukraine and sponsored by more than 70 countries. This document urges an immediate “cessation of hostilities”.
This circumstance should lead to negotiations between the parties to sign “a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in line with the principles of the United Nations.” This entails respect for the territorial integrity of states and the withdrawal of Russian troops. Another toast to the sun for the Kremlin.