UN Security Council: Resolution against Russia fails

Christiane Meier, ARD New York: “Russia is now alone”

Tagesschau 02:00 a.m., 26.02.2022

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Eleven states on the 15-member council voted for the text. Western diplomats saw this as a success in their attempt to diplomatically isolate Russia and drive a wedge between Moscow and Beijing.

Resolution should condemn aggression “in the strongest possible terms”.

The draft resolution, which is available to the German Press Agency, condemns Russia’s aggression “in the strongest possible terms” and reaffirms Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity as well as its independence and unity. It demands immediate withdrawal from Russia and a return to the Minsk Agreement. The text, which was drafted under the auspices of the United States, states, among other things, that the Security Council should decide “that the Russian Federation immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraws its armed forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders”.

Since Russia has veto rights in the Security Council, as does China, the USA, France and Great Britain, acceptance seemed impossible from the outset. However, the United States and its western allies hoped to be able to diplomatically isolate Moscow to a large extent.

The negotiations for this lasted until the last minutes before the vote – the text was subsequently changed again to prevent China from vetoing it and to get the approval of shaky candidates. However, the latter was not achieved due to the abstentions of India and the United Arab Emirates.