UN Security Council to vote on resolution condemning Russia

 

epa09779631 New Zealand ambassador to the UN Carolyn Schwalger speaks in the United Nations General Assembly hall during a meeting on the conflict situation in the Eastern Ukraine at United Nations headquarters. - EPA Pic

THE UNITED States and Albania will soon submit their draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council, seeking to condemn Russia for its recent Ukraine actions, diplomatic sources said Wednesday.

"It's almost finalized," a European diplomat, who wished to remain anonymous, told AFP.

"I hope we can move to action in the next hours or days," he added.

The Security Council will convene later Wednesday night for its second emergency session in three days over the crisis.

Another diplomat, who also asked for anonymity, said she hoped the resolution would benefit from a favorable "momentum" at the UN, where a large majority of nations Wednesday condemned Russia's actions during an hours-long General Assembly meeting.

The draft text of the resolution, obtained by AFP, would have the Security Council officially condemn Russia's decision to recognize two breakaway regions in Ukraine as independent.

It would also reaffirm the Council's "commitment to the sovereignty (and) independence of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders."

The resolution will first go to the 15-member Council, where it is certain to fail due to Russia's veto power.

It could then be submitted to the full UN General Assembly, where no country holds a veto, but Assembly resolutions are non-binding.

"The goal is to have the largest possible majority," the European diplomat said.

A similar scenario played out after Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea.

In the Security Council, China -- which also holds a veto -- abstained, and 13 other members voted for the resolution.

Russia submitted a veto.

The resolution was then submitted to the General Assembly, where it passed 100-11, with other member nations abstaining or sitting out the vote.

According to the European diplomat, the difference this time is a "question of magnitude," with a "risk of major conflict, major war."

"The worst case scenario is the one of a kind of World War II military operation which would of course generate a lot of civilian victims," he explained.

One UN ambassador currently sitting on the Security Council, who also spoke under anonymity, told AFP that the "stakes are the same" and "we'll have the same thing as in 2014."

The US and Albanian representatives to the UN did not immediately respond to a request for comment.--AFP