During an extraordinary special session held in New York on 12 October 2022 the UN General Assembly passed the resolution titled ‘Territorial integrity of Ukraine: defending the principles of the Charter of the United Nations’, as reported by Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
According to the ministry, with this resolution the majority of UN member states condemn the referenda illegally organised by the Russian Federation in territories internationally recognised to be part of Ukraine and the attempted annexation of Ukraine’s Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporozhzhia regions.
The resolution invites all countries, international organisations and UN specialised agencies to not recognise results of the illegal referenda organised by the Russian Federation and requests the Russian Federation to immediately and unconditionally call off its decisions of 21 February 2022 and 29 September 2022 related to the change of status of aforementioned territories.
The resolution once again requests the cessation of military activities in Ukraine and withdrawal of Russian armed forces from Ukraine’s territories.
This affirms strong support for the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders.
143 countries voted in favour of the resolution.
The aggressor Russian Federation, its ally Belarus, as well as North Korea, Syria and Nikaragua voted against.
35 countries abstained and 10 did not participate in the vote at all. Latvian Minister of Foreign Affairs Edgars Rinkēvičs wrote on Twitter that Latvia was one of the 143 countries that supported this resolution, adding that the resolution is «another powerful message by the international community that condemns Russia’s illegal occupation and annexation of Ukrainian territories».
Another powerful message by the international community- United Nations General Assembly condemns Russia’s illegal occupation and annexation of Ukrainian territories. #Latvia was among the cosponsors of this resolution pic.twitter.com/hbKmfTuY3E
— Edgars Rinkēvičs (@edgarsrinkevics) October 13, 2022
At this extraordinary session of the UN General Assembly Latvia, on behalf of Baltic and Nordic countries, strongly condemned Russia’s aggression and attack on Ukraine.
In the resolution Russia is asked to immediately cease military activities, pull out all of its forces from Ukraine. Member states are asked to collectively condemn Russia’s organised referenda and illegal annexation of Ukraine’s territories.
Latvia also stressed the blatant violation of international law and UN statutes by Russia, stressing that Russia’s nuclear threats are unacceptable.
This topic was viewed by the UN General Assembly after Russia vetoed the UN Security Council’s resolution project on 30 September. In it The UN Security Council condemned Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s territory. In the vote held in the UN Security Council the resolution received votes from ten member states. China, India, Brazil and Gabon abstained in the vote.
Since 24 February 2022 the UN General Assembly has passed four major resolutions in relation to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine – a resolution that condemns Russia’s aggression; a resolution regarding the humanitarian situation in Ukraine; a resolution on halting Russia’s membership in the UN Human Rights Council and the most recent resolution – on Russia’s illegal annexation of Ukrainian regions.
After Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 100 UN General Assembly member states supported the resolution in which they stress support for the territorial integrity of Ukraine.