China abstains
Russia blocks resolution in UN Security Council
02/26/2022, 12:38 am
Until the very end, diplomats in the UN Security Council were working on condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But three countries can only decide to abstain. Russia’s rejection comes as expected. Now the General Assembly has to vote.
A resolution against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has failed in the UN Security Council. As expected, Moscow vetoed the text at the vote in the United Nations’ most powerful body in New York – but China, along with two other countries, abstained. 11 states of the 15-member council voted for the text. Western diplomats saw this as a success in their attempt to diplomatically isolate Russia and drive a wedge between Moscow and Beijing.
The draft resolution “strongly” condemns Russia’s aggression and reaffirms Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as its independence and unity. It demands immediate withdrawal from Russia and a return to the Minsk Agreement. The text, which was drafted under the auspices of the United States, states, among other things, that the Security Council should decide “that the Russian Federation immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraws its armed forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders”.
Since Russia has veto rights in the Security Council, as does China, the USA, France and Great Britain, acceptance seemed impossible from the outset. However, the United States and its Western allies hoped to be able to diplomatically isolate Moscow to a large extent. The negotiations for this lasted until the last minutes before the vote – the text was subsequently changed again to prevent China from vetoing it and to get the approval of shaky candidates. However, the latter was not achieved due to the abstentions of India and the United Arab Emirates.
After cautiously distancing itself from Russia in the Security Council, China has been critical of the war in Ukraine. “China is deeply concerned about the recent developments in the situation in Ukraine. Now we are at a point we do not want to see,” UN Ambassador Zhang Jun said at an emergency meeting. “We believe that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states should be respected and the purposes and principles of the UN Charter should all be upheld.” We support negotiations between Russia and Ukraine to resolve the conflict.
Beijing had recently been cautious, at least at the UN in New York, and had avoided defending its partner Russia. In recent years, Moscow and Beijing have regularly voted together and are seen as an alliance in the Security Council. After the failure of the resolution, the text is now to be handed over to the UN General Assembly, according to several diplomats. All 193 member states can vote there. They could adopt the resolution with a simple majority.