Moscow put his veto, during a vote on the Security Council, at a resolution approved by a majority of its members.
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Not surprisingly, the Security Council failed to vote its condemnation of the aggression of Russia against Ukraine Friday, February 25: Moscow put its veto. An expected vote, but which highlighted a more isolated Russia than expected, eleven council members who voted for this heater resolution by the United States and Albania, and sponsored by 81 countries.
This battle to isolate Russia on the international scene has forced concessions that will leave traces in the longer term. The meeting, very awaited, had started with more than an hour and a half late. “Last minute topics, China lobby for the text to be mitigated,” entrusts, discounted, a European diplomat. The day before, a draft resolution had been voted. A strong text that contrasted with the usual precautions taken by the Security Council.
He pointed to Moscow clearly and “condemned Russian aggression”. The draft resolution had been placed under Chapter VII of the UN Charter on Threats to Peace and Security in the World, which gives it a greater symbolic strength. The text was softened in the hours preceding the ballot to “secure” the abstention of China who hesitated with a negative vote, according to a diplomat. The proposed text no longer included the term “condemn” replaced by “deplorning”. A reference to a recourse to force has also been deleted.
The resolution “condemns” the aggression of Russia, however, affirmed the American ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, while his Albanian counterpart, Feris Hoxha, denounced virulently Moscow, who “has” Decided to inflict death “in Ukraine, during a session of gravity. “Responsible Member States do not invade their neighbor,” added the US diplomat, considering that the abstainers, during the vote, “do not defend the Charter of the United Nations”.
During the negotiations, Beijing has brandished the threat of a veto: this text would have been a rough draft for China. The arguments of the annexation of the Ukraine advanced by Vladimir Putin in his speech of Monday, February 21st are strangely echoed, notes a diplomat, apologies as Beijing Advance to convince that Taiwan is part of his national roll.
Global safety at risk
Yet a Chinese veto would have been “unlikely”, esteem Antoine Bondaz, researcher within the Foundation for Strategic Research. “For twelve hours, the message relayed by the official media was that China offered its mediator services,” he explains. Difficult to justify a veto in such a context. Beijing also officially communicated to be uncomfortable on the registration of the draft resolution under Chapter VII. “In 2021, about 30 resolutions were written under Chapter VII and China voted them, recalls the specialist. His argument does not hold.”
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