Russia not to ask for UN council vote on its derided Ukraine invasion

Russia has announced it will not ask the UN Security Council to vote on Friday on its draft resolution on humanitarian relief for Ukraine, which has been criticized for making no mention of Moscow’s invasion of its neighbour.

It will instead use the scheduled council session to again raise allegations that the United States has biological warfare laboratories in Ukraine, claims that Washington says are disinformation and part of a potential “false-flag operation” by Moscow, news agency Associated Press (AP) reported.

Russia’s UN ambassador was quoted as saying that he is not asking for a vote Friday on its resolution on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine, which has been sharply criticized by Western countries for making no mention of Russia’s responsibility for the war against its smaller neighbour.

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Vassily Nebenzia told the U.N. Security Council Thursday that Russia decided at this stage not to seek a vote because of pressure from the United States and Albania on UN members to oppose it, but he stressed that Moscow is not withdrawing the resolution.

Nebenzia said Russia plans to go ahead with a council meeting Friday to discuss again its allegations of US “biological laboratories” in Ukraine with claiming new documents. His initial charge was made without any evidence and repeatedly denied by US and Ukrainian officials.

Russia’s UN ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, made the announcement at a Security Council meeting Thursday afternoon that was called by six Western countries, including the United States, to get an update on the three-week-old war.

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US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield responded to Nebenzia’s announcement by saying that “their farcical humanitarian resolution ... was doomed to fail,” reported AP.

“We know if Russia really cared about humanitarian crises — the one that it created — it could simply stop its attacks on the people of Ukraine,” she said. “But instead, they want to call for another Security Council meeting to use this council as a venue for its disinformation and for promoting its propaganda.”

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• Russia
• Russia-Ukraine crisis
• Russia-Ukraine war
• UN council vote
• derided
• not to ask
• Ukraine invasion