UN General Assembly: Referendum in Crimea is illegal

UN General Assembly urged to observe Ukraine’s territorial integrity. Armenia, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, North Korea, Nicaragua, Russia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Zimbabwe voted against.http://eurobel

Representatives of 100 countries voted for the resolution, 11 were opposed and 58 abstained at a UN General Assembly meeting in New York on Thursday.  Those that abstained are mostly the countries of Latin America and Africa.

"The UN General Assembly affirms its commitment to the sovereignty, political independence, unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders," the resolution reads.

Andriy Deshchytsya, Ukraine's acting Foreign Minister, stated that this resolution raises the question about the necessity of UN existence.

"For a month now all possible and impossible boundaries of international law, so laboriously nourished by the mankind, especially by this institution, have been ruthlessly trampled," RFE/RL quotes him saying. "What has happened in my country is a direct violation of the UN Charter. Many still struggle to grasp the reality. It happened in Ukraine, in the very heart of Europe; it happened in the 21st century."

Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, notoriously known for his statements, said the suggested resolution was “confrontational” and  urged countries to support what he said was Crimea's right of self-determination and to respect the Crimeans' choice to place themselves under the authority of Moscow, Reuters reports.

The UN General Assembly called upon all states to refrain from actions aimed at the partial or total disruption of the national unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine, including any attempts to modify Ukraine's borders through the threat or use of force or other unlawful means.

"Urges all parties to pursue immediately the peaceful resolution of the situation with respect to Ukraine through direct political dialogue, to exercise restraint, to refrain from unilateral actions and inflammatory rhetoric that may increase tensions, and to engage fully with international mediation efforts, - quotes Interfax from the document. - The General Assembly underscores that the referendum held in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol on March 16, 2014, having no validity, cannot form the basis for any alteration of the status of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea or of the city of Sevastopol”.

The General Assembly called upon all states, international organizations and specialized agencies not to recognize any alteration of the status of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol on the basis of the above-mentioned referendum and to refrain from any action or dealing that might be interpreted as recognizing any such altered status.