United Nations General Assembly Resolution ES-11/4

• 1. Introduction

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  United Nations General Assembly Resolution ES-11/4 was adopted on the 12th of October 2022. Its demand of Russia was unequivocal: to "immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw" from Ukraine. The resolution declared Russia's annexation of four Ukrainian regions invalid and illegal under international law. It called on every government to refuse recognizing those territories as Russian. How that vote came to be, and what the final tally revealed, is what this documentary examines.

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• 2. The Staged Referendums

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  Between the 23rd and the 27th of September 2022, Russia organized votes in the Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine. The international community condemned those votes as sham referendums conducted under disputed circumstances and declined to recognize their results.

  On the 30th of September 2022, Russian President Putin formally declared all four regions annexed into Russia. His forces did not fully control any of them at the time. That same day, Russia moved to prevent formal international condemnation.

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• 3. The Veto and the Assembly

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  Russia then cast its veto in the United Nations Security Council, blocking a resolution that would have declared the referendums and annexation illegal under international law. Under newly adopted procedures, that veto automatically triggered a meeting of the full General Assembly.

  The underlying draft resolution, formally designated ES-11/L.5, was presented to the Assembly. Before the vote on the substance could proceed, Russia made one more procedural attempt.

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• 4. The Secret Ballot Fight

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  Russia asked the General Assembly to hold the vote by secret ballot, arguing that some countries would face difficulties representing certain positions in public. The Assembly rejected the request. The vote was 107 in favor of an open public vote, 13 against, and 39 abstaining.

  Votes by secret ballot are highly unusual at the United Nations, where proceedings are generally public. With the procedural question settled, the Assembly was ready to vote on ES-11/4, which required a two-thirds majority for adoption.

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• 5. The Final Vote

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  When the vote was held, 143 countries backed Resolution ES-11/4, with 5 voting against and 35 abstaining. The five nations that voted against were Belarus, North Korea, Nicaragua, Russia and Syria.

  The 143 votes in favor represented more than 78 percent of all votes cast. That figure exceeded the count for Resolution ES-11/1, the first resolution of the emergency session. That earlier resolution had demanded Russia withdraw following the initial invasion of Ukraine. The result also surpassed the vote on 2014 Resolution 68/262, which had rejected the annexation of Crimea. Western sponsors of the resolution acknowledged that the result went beyond their most optimistic expectations.

  Ten member states were absent from the chamber when the vote took place. Among them were Iran and Venezuela.

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