Russia vetoes UN security action on Ukraine with China abstaining

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Russia vetoed a draft United Nations Security Council resolution on Friday that would have regretted Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, while China abstained from the vote in a move seen by Western nations as a victory to show Russia’s international isolation.

The United Arab Emirates and India also abstained from voting on the text drafted by the United States. The remaining eleven council members voted in favor of the resolution. The draft resolution is now expected to be adopted by the 193-member United Nations General Assembly.

US Ambassador Linda Thomas Greenfield said after Russia used its veto: .

Russia is the veto power in the Security Council, along with the United States, China, France and Britain.

China’s abstention comes just weeks after Beijing and Moscow announced a “borderless” partnership, backed each other over confrontations over Ukraine and Taiwan while promising to cooperate more against the West. Read more

Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia, thanked members of the Security Council who did not support the project, which he described as anti-Russian.

“Your draft resolution is just another brutal and inhuman move on this Ukrainian chessboard,” Nebenzia said after the vote.

There was a rare round of applause in the Security Council chamber after Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Nations, Sergei Kislitsya, observed a minute’s silence during his statement to commemorate the dead.

“I am not surprised that Russia voted against it. Russia is keen to continue its Nazi-style course of action,” he said.

Russia is isolated

Diplomats said the UN vote was delayed by two hours in last-minute negotiations by the United States and others to win a Chinese abstention.

The council softened the wording in its resolution to say it “regrets” Russia’s aggression “against Ukraine” from “condemns,” while removing reference to Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which deals with sanctions and the authorization for the use of force, along with a reference to the “President.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine during the United Nations Security Council meeting in New York late on Wednesday in a bid to defuse weeks of escalating tensions. Read more

Britain’s ambassador to the United Nations, Barbara Woodward, told the council after the vote: “Make no mistake. Russia is isolated. It has no support for an invasion of Ukraine.”

The draft Security Council resolution demanded that Russia “immediately cease the use of force against Ukraine” and “the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of all its military forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders.”

The draft also called on Russia to retract its recognition of two separatist states in eastern Ukraine as independent states.

“It is regrettable that the path of diplomacy has been abandoned. We must return to it. For all these reasons, India has chosen to abstain on this resolution,” India’s Ambassador to the United Nations TS Tirumurti told the council.

The Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates, Lana Nusseibeh, said that her country supports the draft resolution’s affirmation of adherence to international law and the Charter of the United Nations, and is committed to the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of all UN member states.

“We must never give up,” Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council Chamber.

“It is important to remember that the United Nations is not just the room behind me. It is tens of thousands of women and men around the world,” he said. “Stand up, deliver, extend the lifeline of hope.”

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols and Homeria Pamuk) Editing by Sam Holmes and Rosalba O’Brien

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