UN General Assembly supported to draft resolution on Crimea and the Sea of Azov

The UN General Assembly adopted the resolution «The problem of militarization of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol (Ukraine), as well as parts of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov» (document A/73/L.47).

This resolution was previously introduced by a forty-state group headed by Ukraine. There was a recorded vote of 66 in favour to 19 against, with 72 abstentions. It was aired live by ATR TV channel.

The document emphasizes the security threats established by Russia to Ukraine, the Black Sea region and the whole of Europe via transferring troops and weapons to Crimea as well as aircraft and missiles which are capable to carry a nuclear charge. For the first time, there sounds a direct call to Russia to immediately withdraw its troops from Crimea and immediately cease its temporary occupation.

«The General Assembly urges the Russian Federation, as the occupying Power, to withdraw its military forces from Crimea and to end its temporary occupation of Ukraine’s territory without delay,» the document says.

For the first time, the UN resolution notes that by occupying Crimea, Russia violated the Budapest Memorandum 1994.

«The General Assembly recalls that the temporary occupation of Crimea and the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine by the Russian Federation is in contravention of commitments made under the Memorandum on Security Assurances in Connection with Ukraine’s Accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (Budapest Memorandum) of 5 December, 1994, in which, inter alia, the commitment to respect the independence and sovereignty and the existing borders of Ukraine was reaffirmed,» says motivation part of the resolution.

In addition, the resolution expressed support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, the non-recognition of the annexation of Crimea, concerning about the progressive militarization in the peninsula and its adjacent sea areas, the deployment of aircraft and missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons, as well specifically mentioned the attack on Ukrainian ships in late November as an illustration of Russia’s aggressive actions.  The resolution also calls on Russia not to impede the freedom of navigation in the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait, to stop pursuing merchant ships, and condemns the illegal construction of a bridge across the Kerch Strait.