UNITED NATIONS (National Times) – Encountering deepening global isolation, Russia faced urgent calls Monday to end its “unprovoked” and “unjustified” assault on Ukraine as the UN General Assembly s 193 members held an extraordinary debate on the invasion of the ex-Soviet state.<\/p>\n
During the rare emergency special session, just the 11th the Assembly has held in the United Nations 77-year history, Russia defended its decision to invade its neighbor as nation after nation urged peace from the podium.<\/p>\n
On the sidelines, the United States said it was expelling from the country 12 “intelligence operatives” at Russia s UN mission for “engaging in espionage activities that are adverse to our national security.”<\/p>\n
Inside the General Assembly hall, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, pleaded: “The fighting in Ukraine must stop. Enough is enough.”<\/p>\n
Representatives of more than 100 countries are expected to speak over three days as the global body decides if it will support a resolution that demands Russia immediately withdraws its troops from Ukraine.<\/p>\n
A vote is expected Wednesday, and it must reach a two-thirds threshold to pass. The resolution is non-binding but will serve as a marker of how isolated Russia is.<\/p>\n
The wording of the resolution was watered down to try to attract maximum support, according to drafts seen by AFP. It no longer “condemns” Russia s aggression in the strongest terms, but rather “deplores” it.<\/p>\n
Its authors hope they may exceed 100 votes in favor — though countries including Syria, China, Cuba and India are expected to either support Russia or abstain.<\/p>\n
“We do not feel isolated,” Russia s UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told reporters.<\/p>\n
He reiterated Moscow s stance, flatly rejected by Kyiv and its Western allies, that its military operation was launched to protect residents of breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine.<\/p>\n
“The hostilities were unleashed by Ukraine against its own residents,” he said during his address.<\/p>\n
The vote is also being seen as a barometer of democracy in a world where autocratic sentiment has been on the rise, diplomats said, pointing to such regimes in Myanmar, Sudan, Mali, Burkina Faso, Venezuela, Nicaragua — and of course Russia.<\/p>\n
“If Ukraine does not survive, the United Nations will not survive. Have no illusions,” said Ukraine s ambassador to the UN, Sergiy Kyslytsya.<\/p>\n
– 2014 Crimea vote –<\/p>\n
Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24.<\/p>\n
Moscow has pleaded “self-defense” under Article 51 of the UN Charter.<\/p>\n
But that has been roundly rejected by Western countries and the United Nations itself. They accuse Moscow of violating Article 2 of the Charter, requiring members to refrain from the threat or use of force to resolve a crisis.<\/p>\n
Addressing the General Assembly, British ambassador Barbara Woodward said the war was “unprovoked, unjustified.”<\/p>\n
The resolution would be “a message to the world: that the rules we built together must be defended,” she added. “Because otherwise, who might be next?”<\/p>\n
China s UN envoy Zhang Jun warned that “nothing can be gained from starting off a new Cold War,” but did not indicate how Beijing would vote.<\/p>\n
The move to hold the emergency session was sparked by Russia using its veto Friday to block a Security Council resolution that condemned Moscow s invasion, and called for an immediate troop withdrawal.<\/p>\n
A 1950 resolution called “Uniting for Peace” allows council members to turn to the General Assembly for a special session if the five permanent members — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — fail to agree to act together to maintain peace.<\/p>\n
There is no veto right at the General Assembly, which held a similar vote in 2014 condemning Russia s seizure of Crimea and obtained 100 votes in support.<\/p>\n
The Security Council held a separate emergency meeting Monday on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine.<\/p>\n
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi warned that the fighting was expected to displace four million people.<\/p>\n
Regarding the expelled diplomats, Nebenzia said the 12 had been told to leave the United States by March 7.<\/p>\n
A US spokeswoman said the move had been “in development for several months,” implying it was not directly related to the war.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UNITED NATIONS (National Times) – Encountering deepening global isolation, Russia faced urgent calls Monday to end its “unprovoked” and “unjustified” assault on Ukraine as the UN General Assembly s 193 members held an extraordinary debate on the invasion of the ex-Soviet state. During the rare emergency special session, just the 11th the Assembly has held […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25758,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n