(AFP) – The United States voted with Russia Monday against a resolution condemning its invasion of Ukraine, rejecting a text widely adopted by the UN General Assembly. As US President Donald Trump stakes out a new position on the Ukraine war, ending a thaw with Russia, a European-backed text marking the conflict’s third anniversary won 93 votes for and 18 votes against, with 65 abstentions. Washington sided with Moscow and Russian allies Belarus, North Korea, and Sudan to vote against the text. The resolution — which won far less support compared to previous ones on the war — strongly criticizes Russia and emphasizes Ukraine’s territorial integrity and inviolability of its borders.
Washington drafted a rival resolution amid an intensifying feud between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Russian ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, had called the US text “a step in the right direction” amid the sudden rapprochement between Russia and the US under Trump. But Washington’s ally France put forward amendments to the US text and told the General Assembly that Paris, along with other European countries including Britain, would “not be able to support in its current form.” These countries, all backers of Ukraine, pushed to reword the US text to say that the “full-scale invasion of Ukraine” had been carried out by Russia. Hungary, whose prime minister Viktor Orban is seen as the most pro-Putin leader in Europe, voted against the amendments. The changes also reaffirmed a commitment to Ukraine’s territorial integrity — which had been omitted from the US text.
The US proposal was so heavily amended that Washington ultimately abstained on its own text as the assembly passed it. “Overall the Europeans’ defensive tactics blunted a pretty crude US diplomatic charge over the last few days,” said International Crisis Group’s Richard Gowan. “I think that the US likely miscalculated how many votes they could swing in a very short space of time.” The inviolability of Ukrainian territorial integrity was a cornerstone of previous resolutions passed by the Assembly, with the United States under former president Joe Biden among its strongest supporters. “Neither these amendments, nor the resolution offered by Ukraine will stop the killing. The UN must stop the killing. We urge all Member States to join us in returning the UN to its core mission of international peace and security,” said Washington’s envoy to the UN, Dorothy Shea, ahead of the vote.
Following the vote, Mariana Betsa, Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister, insisted that “we have a really good working relationship” with Washington after she was asked whether Washington’s maneuver had led to a rupture in ties.
– Security Council in spotlight –
Following the General Assembly vote, Washington is expected to bring its text — essentially the original, unamended one — to a vote at the Security Council later Monday. A State Department official warned the US would veto any amendments by Russia or the Europeans. The rules at the UN state that Washington and other permanent members of the council cannot veto amendments brought at the General Assembly. To be adopted by the Security Council, a resolution needs the votes of at least nine of the 15 members while not being vetoed by any of the five permanent members — the United States, Britain, France, Russia, and China.
Even if the EU members of the council — France, Slovenia, Denmark, and Greece, along with Britain — were to abstain, the US resolution could still pass. That would raise the question of whether France or Britain would be prepared to wield their first vetoes in more than 30 years. Their respective leaders, Emmanuel Macron and Keir Starmer, are visiting the White House this week for key talks on Ukraine. “I do not see how Paris and London can support a text that is so far from their stated positions on Ukraine, but I also do not see how they can veto it,” said Gowan. UN chief Antonio Guterres on Sunday called for a peace that “fully upholds Ukraine’s territorial integrity” and respects the UN Charter.
– Gregory WALTON, Amélie BOTTOLLIER-DEPOIS
© 2024 AFP
