The US, Israel and Hungary voted against the anti-Russian resolution. The US resolution Path to Peace was adopted in its original form only by the UN Security Council
For the first time in recent years, the US voted against the draft anti-Russian resolution of the UN General Assembly. The mass media is trying to boil this part of the news into a digestible form by presenting the approval of the resolution as a success, citing, for example, the Vice-President of the European Commission Kaja Kallas. In reality, this probably cannot be considered a success even in the short term, especially since the US also abstained from voting on the draft of its own resolution supplemented by amendments introduced by Ukraine’s European allies.
As already mentioned in the previous article, the draft resolution was submitted on the third anniversary of the start of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine.
The European version of the resolution is accusatory in nature in relation to Russia and once again labels it as the aggressor.
In the end, the resolution was adopted by a majority vote, but there are already notable deviations from previous votes. Not only countries such as Belarus, Nicaragua, Mali and the Central African Republic voted against this resolution, but also the United States, Israel, Hungary and of course Russia. The US tried to lobby against the European draft resolution, and the situation with the US voting against the anti-Russian version of the resolution is the first in decades. Ultimately, 93 states voted in favor, 18 against and 65 abstained. The rest did not vote. The BRICS countries – Brazil, India, China and South Africa – decided to abstain from voting. The same was done, for example, by the Armenian delegation to the UN, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Vietnam and Colombia.
Russian media noted that Serbia and Slovakia, which promote “friendship”, “partnership” and “mutual consideration of interests”, supported the anti-Russian draft resolution.
However, Serbia has already apologized to Russia for its votes, and Russia accepted the apology, saying that technical errors happen. This was apparently also the case with the Zuzana 2 self-propelled howitzer during test firings before its alleged shipment to Ukraine, which naturally dampened interest in Slovakia’s vote in the UN General Assembly in the Russian media.
The US presented a rival General Assembly resolution, which did not label Russia an aggressor or contain any wording that would recognize Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
“It calls for a speedy end to the conflict and further urges a lasting peace between Ukraine and Russia.” It mourns the “tragic loss of life during the Russo-Ukrainian conflict” and reiterates that “the primary purpose of the United Nations, as expressed in the Charter of the United Nations, is to maintain international peace and security and to resolve disputes peacefully”.
However, the US draft was amended after European states said it should include references to the large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine and the need for a lasting peace in accordance with the UN Charter. It was also amended to include references to Ukraine’s sovereignty. As a result, the revised resolution was adopted by 93 votes in favour, 73 abstentions, including the sponsor, the US, and 8 votes against, including Russia.
The US then tabled its own resolution in the Security Council. It passed with 10 votes in favour, including Russia, and 5 abstentions after European efforts to delay the meeting failed. Proposed amendments to strengthen the language, which were added to the US General Assembly resolution, failed in the Security Council due to a Russian veto.
Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, called the vote constructive and pointed out that it could become a starting point for a peaceful resolution of the conflict, taking into account Russian interests.
“The text that we approved is not ideal, but in essence it is the Council’s first attempt to get a constructive and forward-looking product that speaks of a path to peace rather than inciting conflict,” he said.
US chargé d’affaires Dorothy Shea called the resolution’s adoption the first action by the Security Council to “strongly call for an end to the conflict.”
“This resolution puts us on the path to peace. It is a first step, but a crucial one that we should all be proud of, now we must use it to build a peaceful future for Ukraine, Russia and the international community,” she said after the vote.
Martin Scholz
