Ever since Vladimir Putin sent Russian troops across the border into Ukraine, the role of the UN as global problem solver has come under scrutiny. Any attempts for meaningful action by the security council are immediately stymied by the fact that – as a permanent member – Russia can simply wield its veto. But resolutions voted on by the general assembly at least make for a good indication of where – broadly speaking – the world stands on Vladimir Putin’s invasion.
So when the general assembly voted last night on a resolution condemning Russia’s annexation of the four Ukraine regions it was interesting to see who sponsored it, who supported it, who voted against and who abstained. Apart from Russia, only Belarus, North Korea, Nicaragua and Syria voted against. China, India, Pakistan, Iran and the states of Central Asia were among 35 countries which abstained. Which left 143 nations who voted in favour of the condemnation – the biggest vote of censure against Russia since the beginning of the war.
The most worrying aspect of this, however, is that while there is clearly a consensus that Russia’s invasion is a bad thing, there are deep divisions as to how to bring the conflict to an end. Stefan Wolff, an international security expert at the University of Birmingham – who has written here regularly since the start of the war – has identified a fairly unbridgeable rift between those countries who want Russia to withdraw from all Ukrainian territory, including Crimea and the areas it has occupied since 2014, and those who want to bring Ukraine and Russia to the table to negotiate.
