In the UN Security Council on Friday, Russia, as expected, vetoed a draft resolution drafted by the United States and Albania denouncing “in the strongest terms its aggression against Ukraineand calls on it to withdraw its forces from this country “immediately”.
Amid a Russian-American debate in the Security Council, the American delegate accused the Russian delegate in the Security Council of lying, while the delegate of Ukraine said that the Russian delegate had reserved a seat for himself in Hell.
Eleven of the 15 council members voted in favor of the text, while the remaining three countries, China, India and the United Arab Emirates, abstained.
A diplomat said the draft resolution was watered down hours before the vote in order to “ensure” that these three countries would abstain rather than vote against the text. Thus, in the draft resolution that was voted on, the word “condemns” was reduced to “condemns” and the reference to Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, which authorizes the use of force, was also deleted.
Diplomats said that a similar draft resolution will be put to the vote in the coming days in the United Nations General Assembly (193 members), where no country has a veto.
Several ambassadors believe that given the “disaster” in Ukraine, more than a hundred countries could vote in favor of the draft resolution in the General Assembly.
Since the start of the Russian military operation against Ukraine on Wednesday night, Russia, which the West and the Secretary-General of the United Nations accuse of violating the charter of the international organization, says that it is acting in self-defense under Article 51 of the founding document of the organization.