Russian annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea illegal: UN General Assembly
In sweeping rebuke of Moscow, the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday overwhelmingly affirmed Ukraine’s territorial integrity and deemed the referendum that led to Russia’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula illegal. ● The vote on the Ukraine-sponsored resolution was 100 countries in favour, 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.
PressTV: Russia slams UN resolution on Crimea secession - Video
CS Monitor: Russia accuses West of 'shameless blackmail' in UN vote on Ukraine || Russia hit out in a blistering statement today against a UN resolution that declared invalid Crimea's referendum to secede from Ukraine. Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement that Western states used the "the full force of the unspent potential of the cold war-era propaganda machine" to push through the vote, which passed Thursday. "It is well-known what kind of shameless pressure, up to the point of political blackmail and economic threats, was brought to bear on a number of [UN] member states so they would vote 'yes'," the statement said, according to Reuters. "This counterproductive initiative only complicates efforts to resolve the domestic political crisis in Ukraine."