Russia says UN condemnation of annexation is the result of ‘diplomatic terrorism’

Moscow, October 13 (EFE). – Today, the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, considered that the approval of the United Nations General Assembly of a resolution condemning the annexation of four Ukrainian regions by Russia is the result of “diplomatic terrorism” being practiced against member states.

“The West has brazenly used the tactics of diplomatic terrorism, openly twisting the arms of developing countries and threatening them with all kinds of sanctions,” Lavrov, who is in Astana, said on Russia’s first public television channel.

“Only through such blatant blackmail, through such threats, could such an outcome have been made possible,” he said.

“We understand everything perfectly and the Americans’ assertion that they do not pressure anyone and that everyone votes as they want is a lie. And they know that too,” he said.

The day before, the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution condemning the “illegal referendums” held in four Ukrainian regions in the east and south of the country – Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson – and their annexation from Russia. .

The text received 143 votes in favour, 35 abstentions (among others from China, South Africa, India and Cuba) and only 5 votes against (Russia, Belarus, North Korea, Nicaragua and Syria) and illustrates the strong international disapproval of the Kremlin’s actions.

The resolution, which came after Russia vetoed a similar resolution in the United Nations Security Council, calls on Moscow to reverse its actions on the status of the four regions, and demands that it immediately and unconditionally withdraw its forces from Ukraine.

Wednesday’s vote ended days of intense talks at the United Nations, where European and US diplomats tried to rally as many supporters as possible, and Russia neither sought nor at least abstained from the vote.

The fighting focused primarily on the countries of the so-called “global south”, specifically on the African, Asian and Latin American countries that did not take a clear position on the war. EFE

mos / thousand

EFE 2022. Redistribution and redistribution of all or part of the contents of the EFE Services, without the prior and express consent of Agencia EFE SA, is expressly prohibited.