U N General Assembly votes to demand that Russia stop war in Ukraine

The U. N. General Assembly voted at an emergency special session Wednesday to demand an immediate halt to Moscow’s offensive against Ukraine and withdrawal of all Russian troops, with very strong support from the world organization’s 193 member nations that sparked sustained applause. The vote on the resolution, titled “Aggression against Ukraine, ” was 141 to 5 with 35 abstentions. Russia got support for its appeal to vote against the resolution only from Belarus, Syria, North Korea and Eritrea, a powerful indication of the international isolation that Russian President Vladimir Putin faces for invading his country’s smaller neighbor. Emphasizing that isolation was a major goal of the resolution’s supporters. The abstentions included China and India, as expected, but also some surprises from usual Russian allies Cuba and Nicaragua. And the United Arab Emirates, which abstained on last Friday’s similar Security Council resolution, voted “yes. ”Speaking to the General Assembly on Tuesday, Cuban Ambassador Pedro Luis Cuesta blamed the crisis on what he said is the U. S. determination to keep expanding NATO toward Russia’s borders as well as the delivery of modern weapons to Ukraine, ignoring Russia’s concerns for its own security. He said the resolution “suffers from lack of balance” and doesn’t begin to address the concerns of both parties, or “the responsibility of those who took aggressive actions which precipitated the escalation of this conflict. ”Unlike Security Council resolutions, General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding, but they do have clout in reflecting international opinion. Under special emergency session rules, a resolution needs approval of two-thirds of those countries voting, and abstentions don’t count. After Russia vetoed a similar resolution in the Security Council on Feb. 25, Ukraine and its supporters won approval for an emergency special session — the first since 1997 — to try to spotlight opposition to Russia’s invasion. The resolution states that Russia’s military operations in Ukraine “are on a scale that the international community has not seen in Europe in decades and that urgent action is needed to save this generation from the scourge of war. ” It “urges the immediate peaceful resolution of the conflict” and reaffirms the assembly’s commitment “to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders. ”Before the vote, Ukrainian Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya said of Russian forces: “They have come to the Ukrainian soil, not only to kill some of us... they have come to deprive Ukraine of the very right to exist, ” adding that “the crimes are so barbaric that it is difficult to comprehend. ”Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia then urged U. members to vote against the resolution, alleging that Western nations exerted “unprecedented pressure” with “open and cynical threats” to get support for the measure. All data is taken from the source: http://latimes.com Article Link: https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/... #resolution #newstoday #kingworldnews #usnewsworldreport#newsworldwide #newstodayinusa #