The United Nations General Assembly, met on what is a rare occasion and was dubbed a ‘special emergency session’ due to it being only the 11th time since the United Nations was set up, that such a meeting has been held.
Meetings like this only happen in extreme times involving war and when the United Nations Security Council can’t come to an agreement – Russia currently has veto power, however, when it comes to UNSC hearings.
The vote was to condemn the Russian and Ukraine conflict and one vote that was notably not with them, was China.
This isn’t surprising as China and Russia are staunch allies and China is currently looking into their own invasion of Taiwan.
The resolution to condemn Russia, however, was overwhelming and resulted in 141 countries formally stating their positions as against the Russian – Ukraine conflict.
Russia, North Korea, Eritrea, Syria and Belarus all voted “no,” refusing to condemn it. There were 35 countries who decided to not vote at all, China being one of them.
In the text of the final resolution reads in part that, “no territorial acquisition resulting from the threat or use of force shall be recognized as legal,” and further:
Recognizing that the military operations of the Russian Federation inside the sovereign territory of Ukraine are on a scale that the international community has not seen in Europe in decades and that urgent action is needed to save this generation from the scourge of war…
China’s foreign ministry laid the blame for the conflict on NATO.
Their statement read:
“International media lately mentioned many times that George Kennan, former US ambassador to the Soviet Union, suggested to the US government in 1990s that expanding NATO up to Russia’s borders would be the most fateful error of American policy. Regrettably, the US government turned a deaf ear to this.”
“Thomas Friedman, a famous US expert on international relations, wrote in a recent article that ill-considered decision by the US to expand NATO has undermined the relations with Russia and the US government in early years deserves much of the blame. Tulsi Gabbard, former member of the US House of Representatives, said that the crisis could have been ended and the war easily avoided if President Biden had simply promised not to accept Ukraine’s becoming a member of NATO. But they chose not to do so.” The statement said.
Even Switzerland, the country known for being a chronic fence-sitter, decided to join the fray by announcing that the Swiss will impose similar sanctions on Russia as the European Union, also blocking travel of five Russian oligarchs.
Pascale Baeriswyl, Switzerland’s Ambassador to the United Nations, said that they will be supporting the resolution.
“Each life lost is one too many, we express our solidarity with the people of Ukraine,” she said.
Poland’s U.N. Ambassador Krzysztof Szczerski stated that, “Polish families are opening their homes to refugees,”
“Poland may not be a geopolitical superpower but we want to be a solidarity superpower,” Szczerski said.
Vassily Nebenzia, Russia’s Ambassador, doubled down, stating that Russia was not responsible for starting the conflict.
