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On December 18, the UN General Assembly (GA) adopted a resolution voicing “grave concern over the progressive militarization of Crimea” as well as “over reports of the continuing destabilization of Crimea owing to transfers by the Russian Federation of weapon systems, including nuclear-capable aircraft and missiles, weapons, ammunition and military personnel to the territory of Ukraine.”
The document expressed concern over “multiple military exercises of Russian armed forces held in Crimea”, the building of the Kerch Strait bridge between Russia and the Crimean peninsula, the militarization of parts of the Black Sea surrounding the Crimea and the Sea of Azov by Russia adding that these actions “pose further threats to Ukraine and undermine the stability of the broader region.”
The resolution was initiated by the US, the UK, Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the Republic of Moldova, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine, and Northern Ireland, and then submited to the UN GA by Ukraine.
66 countries voted in favor of the resolution titled “A/73/L47 Problem of the militarization of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine, as well as parts of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov”, 19 – against, 72 – abstained.
Commenting on the situation, Russian Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy said that it is disappointing to observe the “extremely politicized” document being adopted by the UN GA.
“It is disappointing that Kiev and its Western sponsors of the General Assembly have submitted yet another extremely politicized and mendacious subject,” Polyanskiy said. “We regret the vote that has happened, but we are heartened that many states abstained not wishing to have anything with this pernicious Ukrainian enterprise.”
“The Kiev regime thus receives new signals that it’s allowed everything and all will be forgiven, while Russia will be unconditionally blamed in advance for all its sins and crimes.“
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow “deeply regrets” the adoption of the UN GA resolution calling on Russia to stop restricting international navigation in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. He added that Crimea reunited with Russia after its residents expressed their will to do so.
“In relation [to this] we only can express our disagreement with such a position and our regret. We will surely continue to communicate our position to vis-a-vis,” Peskov stressed.
It’s interesting to take a look at the 66 countries, which backed the Crimean resolution. Many of them were NATO and EU member-states, which in the current situation de-facto has no sovereignty in the international relations. Two othe groups are members of The Commonwealth [a UK-controlled body] and smal states in Africa, Oceania, the Caribbean Basin, the Baltic and other regions, which are under almost a direct control of the US in terms of their foreign policy.
Despite all these factors and a strong will of Washington and Brussels establishments to push forward with this anti-Russian resolution, they were able to collect only 66 votes in favour of it. 72 states, including China, India, Egypt and Argentina, abstained; 19 states voted against it. So, the resultion was not supported by a total of 91 states.
As Russian Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Polyanskiy noted, the passed resolution is a clear signal to the Poroshenko regime that the Euro-Atlantic elite fully supports it. This signals come amid reprots about an increased deployment of troops and equipment in eastern Ukraine and the regime of martial law in 10 regions across the country. In this situation, chances of the military escalation are growing in the eastern part of Ukraine are growing.
The text of the draft resolution “A/73/L47 Problem of the militarization of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine, as well as parts of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov” [December 5, 2018] and amendments to it made by Syria and Iran [December 13, 2018] are provided below.
It’s important to note that the wording used in this very draft resolution had never been used towards Russia in official UN documents before. Even after Russia’s reunification with Crimea in 2014.
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