The United Nations recently passed another resolution condemning Russia’s occupation and militarization of Crimea. The Chinese Communist Party, as always, supported Russia and opposed the resolution. But the vote shows the growing isolation of Russia and China and a quiet shift in the international political landscape.
Fewer countries are supporting Russia
The 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly on December 7 again adopted a resolution on Russia’s militarization of Crimea, as well as parts of the Black Sea and the Azov Sea. The resolution was submitted by Ukraine and more than 30 other countries, and 63 countries voted in favor of it. Only 17 countries, including China and Russia, voted against it.
September 11, 2019 at the European Court of Human Rights, before the start of a hearing on Ukraine’s prosecution of Russia for human rights violations in Crimea.
This is the third consecutive year that Ukraine and other countries have introduced a similar resolution. However, the smallest number of countries voted against the resolution in favor of Russia this year.In the December 9, 2019 vote on the UN resolution in question, 19 countries, including China and Russia, voted against it at that time. In the December 17, 2018, vote on the relevant resolution, 19 countries voted against it. In that vote, China abstained, as did India and Vietnam, among others. However, in the November 15, 2018 vote on the UN resolution on the human rights situation in Crimea, China voted against it in support of Russia.
In the voting on a number of UN resolutions on Crimea, support for Ukraine was dominated by the Western camp, which included the vast majority of European countries. There are also regional powers, such as Turkey and Poland.
Regional Powers and Neighboring Countries Drifting Away from China and Russia
Photo: Russian and Chinese soldiers raise their respective flags at the 2019 International Military Games
In the SCO and BRICS blocs, China has usually hugged each other with Russia, voting against the UN resolution on Crimea in the last two years. In addition to this, Kyrgyzstan, a Central Asian country in the SCO, has always voted against every vote in favor of Russia in the last two years, as has China. Other SCO Central Asian countries, including Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, as well as BRICS countries India, South Africa and Brazil, have usually abstained or abstained from voting in the relevant UN votes in the last two years.
North Korea, Iran, Cuba, and Venezuela have been supporters of Russia in UN discussions on Crimea. China’s other two neighbors, Vietnam and Mongolia, both abstained in this year’s vote, while Japan usually supports Ukraine.
Reflecting international political winds
The UN resolution on the militarization of Crimea is not a document that countries must follow and is not mandatory, but nonetheless, the annual battles and votes around the resolution are indicative of the changing international political landscape.
Ukraine and its Western allies submit resolutions to the United Nations at the end of each year, said Yushin, a Russian commentator and journalist on international issues. It is very interesting to observe the adoption process and voting results of the resolutions in question, as it better reflects the changing attitudes of countries around the world toward Russia and the changing international political winds.
Yushin said that now the number of countries supporting Russia is decreasing year by year. Kazakhstan, considered a reliable ally of Russia, and India, a key member of the SCO and especially the BRICS group, do not support Moscow, and the Kremlin should reflect on this.
Ukrainian scholar of strategic issues Burkovsky said that China may be in sympathy with Russia when it comes to voting on the UN resolution on human rights in Crimea, always voting against it.
But he believes that on the Crimea issue, China has to consider the international political winds on the one hand and, more importantly, does not want to offend Russia on the other.
As of now, China wants to show goodwill to Russia, which is a key point of China’s diplomatic actions in this regard,” Borkowski said. In particular, in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, China has to show goodwill to Russia and choose Russia over Ukraine in the process.”
Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. When the UN passed a vote on a resolution on supporting Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity that year, China abstained at the time, 100 other countries voted in favor, and 11 countries, including Russia, North Korea and Venezuela, voted against.
The United Nations has adopted resolutions on the militarization of the Crimean peninsula in the last three years, in addition to resolutions on Russia’s human rights violations in Crimea in the last four years.
Ukraine’s Persistence and Russia’s Disdain
Commenting after the adoption of this year’s resolution, Ukraine’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Kisly Kisly said that the number of countries supporting Ukraine is not decreasing every year, but more and more countries are increasingly distancing themselves from Russia. He believes that the key issue is not yet the numbers reflected in the UN resolution vote, but the content of the resolution, which each year continues to increase pressure on Russia.
This year’s resolution, in addition to mentioning the demand for Russia’s immediate, unconditional and full withdrawal from the Crimean peninsula and the cessation of its occupation of Ukrainian territory, also mentions Russia’s initiation of control over some nuclear weapons facilities in Crimea left over from the Soviet Union’s past, as well as the integration of Crimea’s schools and educational institutions into the military training system of Russia’s indigenous education system and the recruitment of troops among Crimea’s residents.
This year’s resolution also mentions the “Crimean platform” for the first time. Ukraine plans to hold a summit on the “Crimea Platform” in the capital Kiev next spring, with the aim of consolidating the international community’s efforts to return Crimea to Ukraine. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kuleba believes that the resolution just adopted by the United Nations has injected new factors into the international community’s pressure on Russia.
Russia’s First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Polyansky said that the just-adopted UN resolution will not have any impact on the residents of the Crimean peninsula, but once again justifies Russia’s actions against Crimea in 2014. He said that Ukraine’s drama at the UN for the third year in a row, misleading other member states, will not lead to any results.
Russia has deployed a large number of S-400 air defense missiles, advanced shore-based missiles, and warplanes, in addition to expanding its army and navy stationed in the Crimean Peninsula in recent years.
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