Borrell on UN Resolution: A Handful of Votes on Russia’s Side

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Representatives of Western countries and Ukraine have called the UN resolution a proof of cohesion and Russia a “detached from reality” document. The results of the vote show the unity of the global community towards Russia’s war against Ukraine, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said on Thursday, February 23, commenting on the resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly. “We can see it by the votes. There is a small handful of votes on Russia’s side, and this confirms that the whole world looks at the aggression against Ukraine as something that needs to be stopped, opening the door to a just and sustainable peace,” Borrell stressed. According to the EU chief diplomat, Russia has been trying all week to disrupt the work of the UN by distracting the world body with various maneuvers, but has failed once again. Annalena Baerbock: Russia is as isolated as it was a year ago German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock believes that the overwhelming approval of the UN resolution in support of Kyiv is an important signal for Russia’s withdrawal from Ukraine. Russia is isolated today exactly as it was a year ago, the German foreign minister pointed out. “The world wants peace. And the countries of this world have made that clear today at the United Nations,” Baerbock stressed. Furthermore, at the General Assembly meeting, Baerbock called on the world community to send a “clear signal” to Putin to stop the war. Volodymyr Zelensky: A sign of solidarity with Ukraine Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that “the resolution is a powerful signal of unwavering global support” and serves as “a sign of solidarity of the world community” with his country. In his Twitter post, Zelensky expressed gratitude to all the countries that voted in favor of the UN resolution. Dmytro Kuleba: Russia’s actions are condemned not only by the West According to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who participated in the General Assembly meeting, the distribution of votes on the resolution was another evidence that Kiev enjoys the support of the global community as a whole, not only from the EU and the USA. “This vote refutes arguments that the global south is not on the side of Ukraine,” the diplomat stressed. – “Many countries representing Latin America, Africa and Asia voted in favor (of condemning Russia’s actions. – Ed.).” Beijing justified the neutrality by a desire to take into account the “reasonable interests” of both countries China, which traditionally seeks to justify Russian foreign policy actions, was one of 32 countries that abstained during the General Assembly vote. Dai Bin, China’s deputy permanent representative to the world organization, pointed out that Beijing supports “an early resumption of direct dialogue, bringing its legitimate interests into the negotiations, outlining possible options, ending the crisis as soon as possible and giving peace a chance”. In doing so, the diplomat repeated one of the claims that Moscow uses to justify its aggression – that Russia is allegedly under threat because of Ukraine’s aspirations to become a member of the EU and NATO. In his words, the negotiations should take into account “reasonable security interests of all countries”. Russia calls resolution “detached from reality” Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, Vasily Nebenzia, has said that Moscow considers the war it unleashed in Ukraine “an escalation of the contradictions between Russia and the West a year ago”. He said the resolution would not facilitate a transition to a “peaceful solution” to the confrontation, and called the document one-sided and detached from reality, TASS reported. More than 140 UN member states on Thursday, February 23, backed a resolution on the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine following an emergency session of the world organization’s General Assembly on the anniversary of the war. Only Belarus, Eritrea, Mali, Nicaragua, Russia, Syria and North Korea opposed the document, while 32 countries abstained. Here is how the representatives of various countries expressed their views on the vote at the UN General Assembly.