UNITED NATIONS (Washington Insider Magazine) – Russian President Vladimir Putin received no support from UN Security Council members for his activities in eastern Ukraine to bring rebels under Russian authority at an unprecedented meeting Monday night.
According to ABC NEWS, the US termed his acts a cover for a military invasion, other members condemned his violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, and even strong ally China supported discussion and a diplomatic resolution.
Ukraine, 5 European countries, Mexico and the United States met late Monday to protest Putin’s move to recognize the sovereignty of the separatist areas of Donetsk and Luhansk, which were in conflict for 8 years, and instruct his forces to maintain the peace there.
Russia, which is serving as the Security Council’s rotating chair this month, was hoping for a closed session, but diplomats said they agreed to an open session due to intense influence from Western along with other members.
Linda Thomas Greenfield, U. S. envoy to the United Nations, condemned Putin’s announcement that Russian military troops will be positioned as peacekeepers in the rebel Donbas area as “nonsense,” claiming that their mere presence is clearly a pretext for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Despite repeated calls for de-escalation by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron in recent days, French Ambassador to the United Nations Nicolas De Riviere claimed that Moscow has chosen the path of confrontation and conflict.
The British envoy to the United Nations, Barbara Woodward, persuaded the Security Council to declare that Moscow ceases all military actions, denounces hostility against a free and independent country, upholds Ukraine’s territorial dignity, and reminds Russia of its obligations under the U.N. Charter.
This is basically impossible due to Russia’s veto power over council actions.
Ukraine’s UN Representative, Sergiy Kyslytsya, has asked Russia to retract its recognition of the separatist regions’ sovereignty, remove Russian “occupation forces,” and resume negotiations.
He rebuked the United Nations security council for its past neutrality and urged members to defend Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.
By stationing a 120,000-strong military force along the front line with pro-Russian separatists in the east, the US and its Allied countries have encouraged Ukraine to indulge in “an armed provocation,” according to Russian United Nations Envoy Vassily Nebenzia.
During the weekend, Putin criticized Ukraine for increasing bombardment in Donetsk and Luhansk residential neighborhoods, as well as specific Russian villages and towns along the border.
