Russia vetoes UN demand that Russia stop attacking Ukraine

[Deeq A.]

Russia vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution on Friday demanding that Moscow immediately stop its attack on Ukraine and withdraw all troops, a defeat the United States and its supporters knew was inevitable but said would highlight Russia’s global isolation.

The vote was 11 in favor, with Russia voting no and China, India and the United Arab Emirates abstaining, which showed significant but not total opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of his country’s smaller and militarily weaker neighbor.

The resolution’s failure paves the way for supporters to call for a quick vote on a similar resolution in the 193-member U.N. General Assembly, where there are no vetoes. There was no immediate word on a timetable for an assembly vote.

The vote was delayed for two hours the United States and Albania, which co-sponsored the resolution, and their supporters scrambled behind the scenes to get wavering nations to support the resolution. China’s decision to abstain, rather than use its veto alongside usual ally Russia, was seen as a diplomatic achievement.

“Not surprisingly, Russia exercised its veto power today in an effort to protect Russia’s premeditated, unprovoked, unjustified and unconscionable war in Ukraine,” U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said.

“But let me make one thing clear: Russia, you can veto this resolution, but you cannot veto our voices,” she told her Russian counterpart. “You cannot veto the truth. You cannot veto our principles. You cannot veto the Ukrainian people.”

Brazil’s Ambassador Ronaldo Costa Filho, whose country’s vote was initially in question but turned into a yes, said his government is “gravely concerned” about Russia’s military action. “A line has been crossed, and this council cannot remain silent,” he said.

In response, Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia reiterated his country’s claims that it is standing up for people in eastern Ukraine, where Russian-backed separatists have been fighting the government for eight years. He accused the West of ignoring Ukrainian abuses there.

“You have made Ukraine a pawn in your geopolitical game, with no concern whatsoever about the interests of the Ukrainian people,” he said, calling the failed resolution “nothing other than yet another brutal, inhumane move in this Ukrainian chessboard.”

China’s U.N. Ambassador Zhang Jun said China abstained because all efforts must be made for a diplomatic solution and a response from the Security Council “should be taken with great caution rather than adding fuel to fire.” He warned that Western sanctions “may completely shut the door to a peaceful solution” and echoed Russian claims that it is being threatened by NATO’s expansion over the years.

“Russia’s legitimate security aspirations should be given attention and addressed properly,” Zhang said, and “Ukraine should become a bridge between east and west, not an outpost for confrontation among major powers.”

Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Barbara Woodward called Russia’s claim that it was acting in self-defense “absurd.”

 

AP

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