UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. General Assembly approved a resolution Thursday affirming Ukraine’s territorial integrity and calling the referendum that led to Russia’s annexation of its Crimean Peninsula illegal, sending a message to Moscow of surprisingly strong international opposition to its military takeover of the strategic Black Sea region.
The vote on the Ukraine-sponsored resolution was 100 countries in favor, 11 opposed and 58 abstentions.
While Ukraine has a lot of sympathy among the 193 U.N. member states, Russia has a lot of clout. Both sides lobbied hard ahead of the vote, and diplomats had predicted a significant number of abstentions and a maximum 80 to 90 countries supporting the resolution.
So the high number of “yes” votes, representing more than half the 193 U.N. member states, was a sign of international anger at Moscow’s slow-motion military invasion of Crimea.
“This support has come from all corners of the world which shows that this (is) not only a regional matter but a global one,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsia told reporters after the vote.
Russia was only able to muster 10 other “no” votes — Armenia, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, North Korea, Nicaragua, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.
Unlike the more powerful Security Council, resolutions in the General Assembly cannot be vetoed but are not legally binding.
Russia has blocked action in the Security Council where they have veto power as one its five permanent members. Even so, the 15-member council has held eight meetings on Ukraine, as Western powers strive to keep up the pressure on Moscow.
Before the vote, Ukraine’s Deshchytsia told the assembly that his country’s territorial integrity and unity had been “ruthlessly trampled” by Russia, a permanent member of the Security Council entrusted to maintain international peace and security, and in direct violation of the U.N. Charter.
“This text is all about respect for territorial integrity and non-use of force to settle disputes,” he said.
Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin urged a “no” vote, saying a historic injustice in Crimea has been corrected and its people had expressed their right to self-determination in wanting to join Russia.
He called the resolution “confrontational in nature” and said it would be “counterproductive” to challenge the results of the referendum.
Over the past week, Churkin mounted a campaign against the resolution, claiming the dispute is an East-West issue. Ukraine’s U.N. Ambassador Yuriy Sergeyev countered in meetings with regional groups that Russia violated the U.N. Charter and stressed that the country is not a member of any bloc.
“The international community has sent a strong message through the passing of this resolution that Russia cannot simply trample over international law,” British Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a statement after the vote.
U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power, in urging a “yes” vote, stressed its call for a diplomatic, not a military solution, to the crisis and the need to de-escalate tensions and an electoral process that allows all Ukrainians to choose their leaders freely and without coercion.
“We have always said that Russia has legitimate interests in Ukraine,” Power said. “It has been disheartening in the extreme to see Russia carry on as if Ukrainians have no legitimate interests in Crimea.”
Crimea has been at the center of Europe’s greatest geopolitical crisis since the end of the Cold War. Russian troops took over the Ukrainian peninsula, where Russia’s Black Sea fleet is based, and Moscow officially annexed Crimea following a referendum last week.
The upheaval in Crimea is the fallout of months of anti-government protests and outbursts of violence that led to the ouster of Ukraine’s pro-Russia president, Viktor Yanukovych, who fled last month.
The resolution adopted Thursday says the referendum on Crimea has “no validity” and calls on all countries and organizations not to recognize Russia’s annexation.
It also calls on all parties to immediately pursue a peaceful resolution of the situation in Ukraine “through direct political dialogue” and to refrain from “inflammatory rhetoric that may increase tensions.”