The UN General Assembly on Wednesday voted to condemn the Russian annexation of four occupied regions of Ukraine, but four countries sided with Moscow and supported the Kremlin’s actions, according to The Hill news site.
Of the 193 UN members, 143 countries voted in favor of the resolution criticizing the “illegal Russian referendums” with 35 abstentions compared to four countries that refused to condemn, namely Syria, North Korea, Belarus and Nicaragua.
Three of those four countries voted against a General Assembly resolution last March condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine, namely Syria, North Korea and Belarus, as well as Eritrea and Nicaragua.
The General Assembly resolution calls for not recognizing Russia’s annexation of Ukrainian regions and urges Moscow to reverse the move.
US President Joe Biden said the UN General Assembly sent a “clear message” to the Kremlin by overwhelmingly voting in favor of the draft resolution.
“The stakes in this conflict are clear to all – and the world has sent a clear response: Russia cannot wipe out a sovereign country. Russia cannot change borders by force. Russia cannot seize the territory of another country,” Biden said. .
In a statement, Biden said that “the vast majority of the world — countries from every region, large and small, representing a wide range of ideologies and governments — voted today to defend the United Nations Charter and condemn Russia’s illegal attempt to annex Ukrainian territories by force.”
“143 countries have sided with freedom, sovereignty and territorial integrity – and this number is even more than the 141 countries that voted in March to unequivocally condemn Russia’s war against Ukraine,” the US president said.
