New York, October 8 – The United Nations General Assembly will debate Russia’s annexation of four regions in Ukraine and possibly vote on a resolution to declare that the move has “no validity under international law and do not form the basis for any alteration of the status of these regions of Ukraine.”

The assembly’s 193 member states will meet Monday October 10 to begin the debate after a similar resolution calling the annexation illegal was vetoed by Russia in a U.N. Security Council meeting. In that meeting on September 30, 10 countries supported the resolution: the United States, United Kingdom, France, Albania, Ghana, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico, Norway and United Arab Emirates.

Russia voted against and four countries abstained – China, India, Brazil and Gabon. 

The assembly is a legislative body composed of 193 countries and each has one vote and where the veto does not exist. By contrast the five U.N. Security Council permanent members – US, United Kingdom, Russia, France and China – have veto power over decisions on world peace and security. Decisions taken by the Security Council are binding on U.N. members.

The draft resolution to be debated in the assembly would condemn Russia for holding on September 23-27 “illegal so-called referendums in regions within the internationally recognized borders of Ukraine and the attempted illegal annexation of the Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine.”

It calls on “all states, international organizations and United Nations specialized agencies not to recognize any alteration” by Russia of the status of the four regions and “to refrain from any action or dealing that might be interpreted as recognizing any such altered status.” 

If adopted by the assembly, the resolution would be the fourth to be enacted by the body in its diplomatic efforts to end the war started by Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine on February 24 this year.

In the previous three votes in the assembly a majority of the 193 member states supported the resolution condemning the war. The vote taken on March 2 just days after fighting erupted a total of 141 countries voted to condemn while Russia, Belarus, Syria, North Korea and Eritrea voted against. A total of 35 countries abstained. 

The adopted resolution on March 2 condemned “in the strongest terms the aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine” in violation of the U.N Charter and demanded that Russia withdraw immediately and cease all acts of war.

In the second and third votes, the number of countries supporting ending the war dropped while countries that abstained increased.

(By J. Tuyet Nguyen)

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