The UN General Assembly demands the “immediate” withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine.
The resolution of the General Assembly that calls for the “cessation of hostilities” in Ukraine and the withdrawal of Russian troops has garnered this Thursday a total of 141 votes in favor and 7 against, while 32 countries abstained.
The resolution was eventually co-sponsored by 75 countries, including all of the European Union, the United States, and several Latin American countries (Chile, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, and Uruguay).
The result has been very similar to the votes last March and last October, also to end the war in Ukraine, and the countries that voted against this Thursday were – as then – Russia’s staunchest allies in the world : Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea, Mali, Nicaragua and Syria.
Abstainers included China, India, South Africa, Cuba and a majority of African countries.
During the two days of interventions, many countries have launched repeated calls for peace in a generic way and the opening of negotiations, but the High Representative of European foreign policy, Josep Borrell, said that these calls were the result of “naivety”, because he insisted that “Russia has not sent even the slightest sign that it wants peace.”
The Europeans, who promoted the resolution along with Ukraine from the beginning, had warned that abstention would not work because it would be immediately noted by Russia as a position in their favor, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said on Wednesday.
The central point of the resolution is the fifth, which calls on Russia for “an immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of all its military forces from Ukrainian territory within its internationally recognized borders”, and then calls for a “cessation of hostilities”.
Although it also calls for supporting “diplomatic efforts to achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine”, it also stresses the need for “accountability for the most serious crimes under international law (…) and for the prosecution of national and international level”, a phrase that has been criticized by several countries.
The resolution started from Ukraine and was immediately sponsored by the European Union, and 75 countries ended up joining it. At first it included the so-called “Zelenski peace plan” but it was withdrawn in favor of more diplomatic or less “anti-Russian” terms, according to European sources explained to EFE.
The result of this Thursday was very close to that of last October 12, in the vote of the Assembly after the annexation referendums of four Ukrainian provinces: then 143 countries voted against the annexation, 5 did so against (Russia, Belarus, Korea North, Nicaragua and Syria) and 38 abstained, most of them African or Asian.
That result was even larger than the one achieved on March 24, a month after the invasion: that resolution that demanded “an immediate cessation of hostilities” was supported by 140 countries, 5 voted against (Russia, Belarus, Eritrea, North Korea and Syria) and 38 abstentions.
Resorting to the General Assembly (although its resolutions are symbolic) has become common since the beginning of the war due to the ineffectiveness of the Security Council, weighed down by Russia’s right to veto, which has prevented a single resolution from being approved. (Which in your case are mandatory).