The UN headquarters building is depicted with the UN logo in the Manhattan district of New York, New York, USA, March 1, 2022. REUTERS / Carlo Allegri
UNITED NATIONS, March 2 – The UN General Assembly will condemn Russia on Wednesday for its invasion of Ukraine and demand that Moscow stop fighting and withdraw its military, a move aimed at diplomatically isolating Russia from the world. organization. .
By Tuesday night, almost half of the 193-member General Assembly had signed as co-sponsors of a draft resolution ahead of Wednesday’s vote, diplomats said. The text “regrets” Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
This is similar to a draft resolution that Russia vetoed in the 15-member Security Council on Friday. No country has a veto in the General Assembly, and Western diplomats expect the resolution, which needs two-thirds support, to be passed.
“Russia’s war marks a new reality. It requires each of us to make a firm and responsible decision and take sides,” German Foreign Minister Analena Berbok told the General Assembly on Tuesday.
Although the resolutions of the General Assembly are not binding, they have political weight.
The draft text “requires the Russian Federation to immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all its military forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders.”
Dozens of states are expected to officially abstain or not vote at all. China, India and the United Arab Emirates abstained in two votes by the 15-member UN Security Council on the crisis in Ukraine last week.
“We must leave room for diplomatic diversion,” UAE Ambassador to the UN Lana Nuseibeh said on Tuesday. “The channels must remain open, and those countries that abstained have those channels with President Putin and will use them to help and support in any way.”
The vote of the General Assembly will come at the end of the rare extraordinary special session of the body convened by the Security Council on Sunday. Russia failed to veto the move, as it was a matter of procedure. Read more
More than 100 countries will speak before the vote.
UN moves reflect what happened in 2014 after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region.
The Security Council voted on a draft resolution against the referendum on Crimea’s status and called on the countries not to recognize it. He was vetoed by Russia.
The General Assembly then adopted a resolution declaring the referendum invalid. He received 100 votes in favor, 11 against and 58 abstentions, while two dozen countries did not take part.
Report by Michelle Nichols; Edited by Mary Millikon and Richard Pullin
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