February 24, 2023
An electronic sign displays the results of a vote by delegations adopting a resolution on Ukraine during a high-level meeting of the United Nations General Assembly to mark one year since Russia invaded Ukraine, at U.N. headquarters in New York City, New York, U.S., February 23, 2023. REUTERS/Mike Segar
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 23 (Reuters) - The United Nations
overwhelmingly isolated Russia on Thursday, marking one year since Moscow
invaded Ukraine by calling for a "comprehensive, just and lasting
peace" and again demanding Moscow withdraw its troops and stop fighting.
Just a day after China's top
diplomat visited Moscow and pledged a deeper partnership with Russia, Beijing
abstained on the vote - the fourth time it has done so on such action since the
Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 last year.
With a round of applause, the
resolution was adopted on Thursday with 141 votes in favor and 32 abstentions.
Six countries joined Russia to vote no - Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea, Mali,
Nicaragua and Syria.
"This resolution is a powerful signal of unflagging global
support for Ukraine," Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy posted on
Twitter after the vote.
Russia's Deputy U.N. Ambassador
Dmitry Polyanskiy dismised the action at the United Nations as
"useless," posting on Twitter: "Will it bring peace? No! Will it
embolden warmongers? Yes! Thus prolonging Ukrainian tragedy."
Russia had described the resolution as "unbalanced and
anti-Russian" and urged countries to vote no if it could not be amended.
Moscow ally Belarus failed in a bid to change the text with amendments
including "prevention of further escalation of the conflict through
feeding the parties with lethal weapons."
Western powers have provided
Ukraine with billions of dollars in weapons since Russia invaded. The United States and NATO have in the past
week accused China of considering supplying arms to Russia and warned Beijing
against such a move.
"One year into the Ukraine
crisis brutal facts offer an ample proof that sending weapons will not bring
peace," China's deputy U.N. Ambassador Dai Bing said ahead of the vote.
"Adding fuel to the fire will only exacerbate tensions."
China's abstentions appear to
reflect a bid to stay on the diplomatic fence over the war in Ukraine. Beijing
says the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries must be
respected, but - in a nod to Russia's unease about NATO - believes all security
concerns should be addressed.
'VENEER OF
NEUTRALITY'
China did vote against two
resolutions adopted by the U.N. General Assembly last year that took specific
action - suspending Russia from the Human Rights Council and recognizing Russia
must be responsible for making reparations to Ukraine.
China attempts "to maintain
this veneer of neutrality, professing to the world that they're not taking a
side - but they've clearly chosen a side," U.S. State Department
spokesperson Ned Price said on Thursday.
He said China "has been
providing important support to Russia over the course of the last year,"
citing non-lethal assistance provided by Chinese companies tied to the state.
Moscow has been trying to chip
away at its international isolation. As Russia and the West have vied for
diplomatic influence, some states - particularly in the global South - have
grown concerned about paying the price for being squeezed in the middle of an
intense geopolitical rivalry.
"While we support the
present resolution's focus on the principles of the charter and international
law, it certainly brings us no closer to laying the foundations for a durable
peace and bringing and end to devastation and destruction," said South
Africa's U.N. Ambassador Mathu Joyini, who abstained.
Brazil voted for the resolution,
but its Ambassador Ronaldo Costa Filho said the "time has come to open
space for dialogue and to begin reconstruction."
The General Assembly has been the
focus for U.N. action on Ukraine, with the 15-member Security Council paralyzed
due to veto power by Russia and the United States along with China, France and
Britain.
The Security Council has held
dozens of meetings on Ukraine in the past year and will again discuss the war
on Friday at a ministerial gathering, due to be attended by U.S. Secretary of
State Antony Blinken. Diplomats say Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is
not scheduled to attend.
Reporting by Michelle Nichols; editing by Costas Pitas and
Lincoln Feast.
https://www.reuters.com/world/russia-isolated-un-marks-one-year-ukraine-war-2023-02-23/
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