Politics

UN General Assembly Vote On Ukraine Now Likely On March 24

The UN General Assembly will not likely vote on a resolution on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine until March 24, delaying the expected vote by one day.

The delay was caused by the large number of speakers seeking to address the matter, diplomats said.

The text of the resolution, introduced by Ukraine, is clearly directed against Russia.

The General Assembly previously voted on Moscow’s actions, but Ukraine and its Western allies are seeking to get more than the 141 “yes” votes cast on March 2 to adopt a resolution that called out Russia’s “aggression against Ukraine.”

Russia, Belarus, Eritrea, North Korea, and Syria voted “no,” while 35 states, including China, abstained.

General Assembly resolutions are nonbinding and are mainly symbolic.

There is also a much more neutral text proposal from South Africa that does not mention Moscow as an aggressor despite its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Russia failed on March 23 in its attempt to get its own humanitarian resolution on the Ukraine conflict passed in the UN Security Council.

Only China joined Russia to vote in favor of the text in the 15-member Security Council. The remaining 13 countries abstained.

Western countries have described the country’s introduction of a humanitarian resolution as “cynical” and an “insult.”

Copyright (c) 2015. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

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