United Nations denounces Russian annexation of Ukrainian territories

Sunday, October 16, 2022

The United Nations General Assembly voted 143-5 Wednesday to reprimand Russia for its October 5 annexation of four regions of what is internationally recognized as Ukraine.

During Russia's ongoing invasion, forces held four referenda on the prospect of joining Russia in four Ukrainian oblasts (provinces) that were widely condemned as illegal. On October 5, President Vladimir Putin passed legislation incorporating the territories.

Text from the resolution, first presented before the Security Council September 30, declares the referenda and annexations "illegal" and urges Russia to "immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces." Mediation through "political dialogue, negotiation, mediation and other peaceful means" were encouraged, but nations were pressed to "refrain from any action that might be interpreted as recognizing" changes to Ukraine's territorial extent.

The original text was authored by Albania and the United States, and failed due to Russia's veto power in the Security Council. Moscow had attempted to make the General Assembly vote through secret ballot to grant non-aligned nations "flexibility and breathing space" in choosing sides, but the General Assembly rejected the motion.

143 nations voted for the resolution, while 35 abstained, 11 did not vote, and four, with Russia (Belarus, Nicaragua, North Korea and Syria), voted against.

Have an opinion on this story? Share it!

Sources

Pamela Falk. U.N. members vote overwhelmingly to condemn Russia's annexation in Ukraine — CBS News, October 12, 2022
UN General Assembly Condemns Russia's 'Illegal Annexation' Of Ukrainian Regions — Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, October 12, 2022
Associated Press. Russia's Putin announces annexation of 4 Ukraine regions, despite global outcry — CBS News, September 30, 2022
Margaret Besheer. UN Vote Will Test Countries' Views on Russian Annexation Bid — Voice of America, October 9, 2022

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

The text of this article is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License