UN Assembly Condemns Russia’s Invasion Ahead Of Anniversary
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
KYIV/NEW YORK (Worthy News) – The United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution condemning Russia’s invasion and calling for the withdrawal of troops from Ukraine and a halt to the fighting.
Thursday’s vote came as Ukraine’s intelligence service said it expected Russian attacks around the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion on February 24th.
With the war still raging, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky remembered all those who died since Russia’s invasion began last February.
In an emotional televised message, he said Ukraine will hold Moscow to account for “all the terror, all the killings, all the torture.”
He spoke as, in Vienna, a session at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) was marked by a mass walkout of delegates after a Russian representative was given the floor to speak.
Latvian legislator Rihards Kols swore at the Russian delegation attending the OSCE conference over the war in Ukraine.
But Austria’s government said that as a host nation, it was obliged to grant visas to representatives from all OSCE member nations.
Ukraine warned its delegates wouldn’t attend if the Russians were present, as did Lithuania.
OSCE PLATFORM
The Vienna-based OSCE, whose 57 members include Ukraine and Russia, was created during the Cold War as a platform for dialogue between East and West.
The group has a wide-ranging mission, including peace, human rights, arms control, and other security issues.
They gathered as in Russia, President Vladimir Putin declared Moscow’s intention to develop its arsenal of nuclear weapons in the coming year during a speech to mark Defender of the Fatherland day.
Amid these tensions, Austria had a “duty not to slam the door on diplomacy,” Wolfgang Sobotka, the speaker of the Austrian parliament, said. “The OSCE, with its inclusive approach and comprehensive security concept, can and above all should be part of a solution to this conflict.”
“I do sympathize with the fact that some members find it unbearable to sit in the same room as the aggressors,” the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s president, Margareta Cederfelt, told the opening session.
“But for those present today, this is your opportunity to stand up for Ukraine and to confront the lies from the aggressors.”
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