Page 11 - RusRPTNov22

China is performing a delicate balancing act between backing Russia and
protecting its commercial relations with the west.
Members of the UN overwhelmingly voted to condemn Russia’s annexation of four Ukrainian regions on October 12, with some of Russia’s earlier supporters also joining the motion to censure the move.
A total of 143 counties voted in favour of the motion, five voted against and 35 abstained. Amongst Russia’s supporters both India and China abstained again as they have in the previous two UN votes to condemn the invasion of Ukraine in February and a vote to remove Russia from the UN human rights council.
India has emerged as a Russian supporter and one of its biggest customers for sanctions
defying oil exports.
The countries that voted against the motion were Belarus, North Korea, Nicaragua and Syria in addition to Russia itself.
The United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday overwhelmingly voted to condemn Russia's annexation of parts of Ukraine after Moscow vetoed a similar effort in the Security Council.
As in previous votes the other countries abstaining from the vote include all of the Central Asian countries and many in Africa, which have commercial ties with Russia. In particular, South Africa and Pakistan both abstained despite a major US diplomatic push to rally the vote against Russia.
Importantly a number of Russian aligned countries that chose to abstain in the two previous votes this time voted to condemn Russia, including Egypt Myanmar, Iraq, UAE and Serbia, which are seen as amongst Russia’s strongest supporters. Also the African country of Eritrea has been one of the few countries to vote against Russia in the previous two votes, but this time switched to an abstention in another surprise.
The UN General Assembly vote on March 3 to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine went almost unanimously against Russia, with only five countries voting against the motion: Belarus, Syria, North Korea and Eritrea. China and India both chose to abstain rather than vote against the motion. A total of 141 voted for that motion and 35 abstained.
In another United Nations General Assembly vote to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council for “gross and systematic violations and abuses of human rights" in Ukraine on April 7 also saw the same five countries vote against the motion with a total of 24 countries voting against the motion, 93 voting in favour and 58 abstaining.
11 RUSSIA Country Report November 2022 www.intellinews.com