By KEMI KASUMU with Agencies reports
Russia, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, vetoed resolution S/2022/720 at a meeting Friday September 30, 2022, condemning the referendums in the liberated republics and captured regions of Ukraine and demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops.
Sources in New York said the meeting held following Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin’s proclamation of Moscow’s annexation of the liberated Luhansk, Donetsk republics and captured Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions but that effort by United States and Albania to push for the condemnation of the action failed as the UN Security Council rejected a draft resolution intended to condemn the referendum that preceded it, despite garnering support from 10 members but was vetoed by the Russian Federation.
BRICS member Brazil, China and India as well as Gabon from Africa, abstained from voting at the meeting of 15-member council. Although the US Ambassador UN tried to impress to the press that abstaining by the China and others meant rejection of Russia’s action, a report earlier had said ties that exist between Russia and China is permanent and without limits.
Four countries – China, India, Gabon and Brazil – abstained during the vote. The remaining 10 members of the Security Council supported the resolution prepared by the United States and Albania. A minimum of nine votes from the members of the Security Council without a veto of the permanent members would be sufficient for the adoption of the resolution.
The document condemns what it calls “Russia’s organisation of illegal so-called referendums in regions within the internationally recognised borders of Ukraine,” which “have no legal force.” The resolution also calls on Russia to “immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all its military from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders.”
During the discussion, the permanent representative of the Russian Federation at the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, accused the USA of “obscenity.” Putting to a vote a resolution condemning the actions of a permanent member of the Security Council violates established practice and provokes Moscow to use the right of veto, according to Nebenzya.
It will be recalled that Russian President Vladimir Putin proclaimed Russian rule over four territories consisting of two liberated Luhansk, Donetsk republics and two captured Kherson, Zaporizhzhia regions that make up 15 percent of Ukraine’s territory – the biggest annexation in Europe since World War II. The move has been firmly rejected by Western countries.
Russia has been trying to chip away at its international isolation after nearly three-quarters of the General Assembly voted to reprimand Moscow and demand it withdraw its troops within a week of its February 24 military operations in neighboring Ukraine, where, according to it, United States-led NATO had mobilized heavy weapons in ways that threatened its nation’s security and has since then stopped at nothing to ensure the ‘enemy alliance’ does not succeed.
Russian ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia, who raised his hand to give the only vote against the resolution, argued the regions, where Moscow has seized territory, chose to be part of Russia. Kyiv and Western leaders denounced the referendums as a sham.
But Nebenzia said, “There will be no turning back as today’s draft resolution would try to impose,” Nebenzia said.
