For the sixth time in a year, the world is meeting again in the Glass Palace and taking sides with Kiev, isolating Moscow with a peremptory resolution passed with 141 yes, 32 abstentions (including China and India) and 7 against (Moscow and its allies).
Four points: "The need for a complete, just and lasting peace in line with the Charter of the United Nations";
commitment to the "sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders";
"the cessation of hostilities and the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of Russian military forces from Ukrainian territory".
Finally "the need to ensure responsibility for the most serious crimes committed on the territory of Ukraine under international law".
The motion is not binding but has high political and symbolic value, also because the General Assembly has become the most important UN body dealing with Ukraine, given that Moscow's veto power continues to paralyze the Council of Security, which meets again tomorrow.
The vote of the 193 countries of the United Nations comes on the eve of the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but also of the presentation of the mysterious Chinese peace plan and the informal talks "with the utmost discretion" underway in Switzerland to end the war, as revealed by the Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis, warning however that an imminent solution is very difficult, "barring a miracle".
Until the last moment there was the
uncertainty and the fear of a contrary vote from India, which instead then decided to abstain, as it had always done;
among the positive notes, the yes of Lula's Brazil, while Mali has sided this time with Moscow, rejecting the text together with Syria, Belarus, Eritrea, Nicaragua and North Korea.
A no from New Delhi - which buys energy and weapons from Russia - would have been a huge vulnus, considering the long US courtship and that the Asian giant will host the next G20.
But after two days of debate and even bitter clashes, in the end the forecasts of the 75 co-sponsor countries of the resolution were respected - including Italy represented by Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani - who expected to collect about 140 yes votes, approaching at
outcome of the three previous more generic motions to condemn Russia (143 the record last October).
Venezuela, which did not vote because it did not comply with the UN quotas, would also be added to the no votes, as would Lebanon, which instead sided with the yes vote.
"A great victory for freedom", exulted Tajani commenting on the outcome of the vote.
While urging Europe to have "a more active and constructive role in promoting peace talks", Beijing was clear to the UN: "Territorial integrity must be respected, as well as the principles of the UN Charter. The priority however, it is fundamental to facilitate the ceasefire and the cessation of hostilities immediately", said the Chinese deputy ambassador Dai Bing, reiterating that "dialogue and negotiations are the
