UNITED NATIONS: After the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly voted to condemn Russia’s annexation of parts of Ukraine, Moscow on Thursday accused the West of using “diplomatic terror” to achieve its goals.

The General Assembly had, on Wednesday, approved the resolution with 143 in favor and five against, but 35 nations abstained, including China, India, South Africa and Pakistan despite a major US diplomatic effort to seek clearer condemnation of Moscow.

The vote, US President Joe Biden said, sent a “clear message” to Moscow.

“The stakes of this conflict are clear to all and the world has sent a clear message in response: Russia cannot erase a sovereign state from the map,” a White House statement quoted him as saying.

But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov hit back on Thursday, terming the resolution “anti-Russian” saying that it had been achieved using “diplomatic terror”, the TASS news agency reported.

The resolution “condemns the organization by the Russian Federation of so-called referendums within the internationally recognized borders of Ukraine” and “the attempted illegal annexation” announced last month of four regions by President Vladimir Putin.

International condemnation

The US had put special effort into seeking to persuade South Africa and especially India, a growing US partner that has a historically close relationship with Russia and also abstained in the Security Council, where it holds a non-permanent seat.

The vote was largely the same – with a net two more votes against Russia – as when the General Assembly in March condemned the initial invasion of Ukraine.

Bangladesh, Iraq and Senegal – which abstained in March – on Wednesday voted to condemn Russia.

Eritrea, one of the world’s most closed states, moved from a “no” to an abstention, while Nicaragua, under growing international pressure over human rights, switched from abstaining to voting “no” alongside only Russia, Belarus, North Korea and Syria.

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2022