(United Nations) Russia on Friday, as expected, vetoed, during a vote in the UN Security Council, a resolution approved by a majority of its members which deplored in “the strongest terms” its ” aggression against Ukraine” and called on it to “immediately” withdraw its troops from that country.
Posted at 3:30 p.m.
Updated at 7:16 p.m.
Of the 15 members of the Council, 11 countries voted in favor of the text, co-drafted by the United States and Albania, three abstained: China, India and the United Arab Emirates. Beijing has claimed to be against taking sanctions that rain down on Russia, India and the Emirates have not clearly explained their abstention.
The Russian veto is “a bloodstain on its plate at the Security Council”, reacted on Twitter Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who judged that the support for the draft resolution showed “that the world was with” Ukraine. “The truth is with us, the victory will be ours,” he added.
The project had been softened in the hours before the vote to “secure” the abstention of the three hesitant countries with a negative vote, according to a diplomat. The proposed text thus no longer included the term “condemn”, replaced by “deplore”. A reference to Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which includes the use of force, was also removed.
The resolution “condemns” Russia’s aggression, however, decided the American ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, while her Albanian counterpart, Ferit Hoxha, virulently denounced Moscow for having “decided to inflict death” in Ukraine, during a serious session.
“Responsible Member States do not invade their neighbours,” added the American diplomat, believing that the abstainers, during the vote, “do not defend the Charter of the United Nations”.
“To abstain is to condemn”, tempers to AFP an ambassador member of the Security Council, on condition of anonymity, speaking of “hour of truth” for large countries like India or Brazil, candidates for a permanent seat and who must choose “between their particular interest and multilateralism and the general interest”.
While regretting a meeting without result, the secretary general of the UN, Antonio Guterres affirmed that it was necessary “to give a new chance to peace”. “The soldiers must return to their barracks,” he implored.
“Civilians are dying” in Ukraine, he said, while Russian UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, minutes earlier at the Security Council, had assured that the Russian army was only targeting targets military.
“Scary Signal”
Before the Council, the Ukrainian ambassador to the UN, Sergiy Kyslytsya, strongly and at length attacked Russia and Vassily Nebenzia, accusing the latter of lies when he had promised in recent weeks that he would not there would be no invasion.
“Your words are worth less than a pretzel!” “, he launched before claiming a minute of silence for the dead in Ukraine, punctuated by a round of applause under the black eye of the Russian diplomat.
Before the session, Sergiy Kyslytsya had posed, Ukrainian flag in hand, surrounded by European Union ambassadors, in front of a vast tapestry representing the painting Guernica by Picasso, adorning a wall at the entrance to the Security Council.
“We are here in full solidarity with the people of Ukraine,” said Olof Skoog, Ambassador representing the EU to the UN.
Since the start of its military invasion of Ukraine overnight from Wednesday to Thursday, Russia, accused by the West and the head of the UN of violating the Charter of the United Nations, claims to act in self-defense under the terms of the article 51 of the Organization’s founding document.
After the vote, Vassily Nebenzia denounced an “anti-Russian and anti-Ukrainian” draft resolution, accusing the West of manipulating world opinion.
According to diplomats, a resolution similar to that submitted to the Security Council should be proposed in the coming days to a vote of the UN General Assembly (193 members) where the right of veto does not exist. Some ambassadors estimate that given the current “disaster” in Ukraine, more than a hundred countries could vote in favor of it at the General Assembly.
The US-Albanian resolution had co-sponsored by more than 80 countries. It provided, in addition to a strong criticism of Russia, to reaffirm support for Ukraine’s sovereignty, and to oblige Russia to cease “the use of force” and to withdraw “immediately, completely and unconditionally all its military forces” of this country.
In a statement, Kenneth Roth, director of the NGO Human Rights Watch, strongly denounced a Russian veto which “sends a frightening signal to Ukrainian civilians of its indifference to international law”.
In 2014, after the Russian annexation of Crimea, which was done without bloodshed, Moscow had already vetoed a text condemning it, which had collected 13 favorable votes, China abstaining. India was not then a member of the Security Council.
A resolution then at the General Assembly had obtained 100 favorable votes. Eleven countries voted against, 58 abstaining. The rest of the UN members did not take part in the ballot.