United Nations General Assembly Resolution ES-11/4

• 1. The September Referendums

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  From 23 to the 27th of September 2022 Russia staged annexation referendums in the Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine. The referendums are widely considered to be sham referendums by the international community. Following these events on the 30th of September 2022 Russian President Putin declared that these four regions would be annexed into Russia. At the time of the announcement Russia only partly controlled some of the regions that were to be annexed.

• 2. Security Council Veto Power

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  On the 30th of September 2022 Russia used its veto power in the United Nations Security Council to block a resolution declaring the disputed referendums illegal. Under newly adopted procedures the use of a veto in the Security Council triggers a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly. During this meeting the underlying draft resolution for ES-11/4 was presented and adopted as document ES-11/L.5. This mechanism allowed the General Assembly to act when the Security Council failed to reach consensus on the matter.

• 3. Secret Ballot Debate

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  Prior to the vote on the resolution Russia called for the measure to be voted on by secret ballot. They argued that countries would have difficulties representing certain positions in public. The General Assembly rejected Russia's proposal with 107 votes in favour of a public vote against 13 and 39 abstaining. A secret ballot vote on a resolution is highly unusual since United Nations votes are generally held in public.

• 4. Historic Vote Tally

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  On the 12th of October 2022 the United Nations General Assembly adopted the resolution with 143 countries voting in favour. Five nations voted against including Belarus North Korea Nicaragua Russia and Syria while 35 abstained. The resolution achieved the most votes in favour out of all resolutions adopted during the 11th Emergency Special Session focused on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It also received far more support than the 2014 Resolution 68/262 which rejected the annexation of Crimea.

• 5. Legal Condemnation Clause

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  In resolution ES-11/4 the General Assembly declares that the sham referendums conducted under disputed circumstances are invalid and illegal under international law. It calls upon all states to not recognise these territories as part of Russia. Furthermore it demands that Russia immediately completely and unconditionally withdraw from Ukraine as it is violating its territorial integrity and sovereignty.

• 6. Global Diplomatic Response

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  The overwhelming voting result went beyond the most optimistic expectations by Western sponsors who drafted the measure. A total of 193 member states participated in the vote with 78.14% supporting the condemnation. The resolution achieved more votes in favour than any previous Ukraine-related resolution including the initial Resolution ES-11/1 which demanded Russia withdraw its forces from Ukraine.