The United Nations General Assembly on December 9 called on the Russian Federation to withdraw its military forces and end the occupation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula.
“The U.N. General Assembly has adopted a draft resolution urging the Russian Federation, as the occupying power, to withdraw its military forces from Crimea and to end its temporary occupation of Ukrainian territory without delay,” the Ukrainian Mission to the United Nations said on Facebook.
The resolution calls upon all member states to cooperate with the United Nations “to encourage and support efforts to put an end to the Russian occupation of Crimea as rapidly as possible and to refrain from any dealings with the Russian Federation regarding Crimea that are inconsistent with this aim.”
The resolution, titled “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,” was co-sponsored by 39 countries, among them the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Hungary and Bulgaria. Sixty-three countries voted in favor of the document.
Nineteen countries voted against: Armenia, Belarus, Burundi, Cambodia, China, Cuba, North Korea, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Philippines, the Russian Federation, Serbia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe. Sixty-six countries abstained and 45 did not cast a vote in the 193-member General Assembly.
The document calls on the Russian Federation to return unconditionally and without delay all equipment and weapons seized from the released vessels – the Berdyansk, the Nikopol and the tugboat Yany Kapu – to the custody of Ukraine.
The resolution welcomes the release by the Russian Federation of 24 crew members of the three vessels and encourages further negotiations to ensure the release by the Russian Federation of all illegally detained Ukrainian citizens.
The resolution also condemns visits by Russian officials to the temporarily occupied Crimean peninsula, including those in connection with conducting military exercises, and expresses its deep concern over the use of seized Ukrainian military industry enterprises in occupied Crimea by the Russian Federation.
It also calls all member states as well as international organizations and specialized agencies to refrain from any visits to Crimea that are not agreed with Ukraine.
What is more, the document calls upon the Russian Federation to refrain from efforts to extend its jurisdiction over the nuclear facilities and material in Crimea, and expresses concern over the use of seized Ukrainian military industry enterprises in occupied Crimea by the Russian Federation.
The resolution recalls the prohibition for the occupying power to compel residents of the occupied territories to serve in its armed or auxiliary forces, “including through pressure or propaganda that is aimed at securing voluntary enlistment,” condemns efforts to use the education of children in Crimea in order to indoctrinate them to join the Russian military forces and urges the Russian Federation to stop such activity.
In addition, the resolution notes the fact that security concerns and the build-up of forces in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov region further destabilize the economy and social services, particularly in the coastal regions of Ukraine.
Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the U.N. Volodymyr Yelchenko was quoted by the Associated Press as saying: “…what is more alarming is that the occupying power is taking steps to nuclearize Crimea, in particular by deploying carriers and other means capable of delivering nuclear weapons, as well as by actively developing nuclear infrastructure on the peninsula.” He stressed that Ukraine is a non-nuclear state and a party to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
Sources: UNIAN, Ukrinform, Associated Press.