The UN General Assembly on Monday passed a resolution providing for Russia to pay war reparations to Ukraine by 94 votes in favor, 14 against and 73 abstentions.
The initiative was submitted by 50 countries and calls for the creation of an international mechanism to compensate for material and personal damages and to keep a record of evidence and claims, the UN said in a statement.
The General Assembly has representation from all 193 UN members and its decisions are adopted by simple majority, while in the Security Council, the body with executive power, Russia is one of the five members with the right to veto.
Ukrainian Ambassador Sergi Kislitsia has demanded that Russia be held accountable for violating international law. «Seventy-seven years ago the Soviet Union demanded and received reparations appealing to the moral right of a country that has suffered war and occupation. Today Russia, which claims to be the successor of the tyranny of the 20th century, is doing everything possible to avoid paying the price for its own war and occupation and is trying to escape accountability for the crimes it is committing,» he has argued.
Kislitsia also recalled that Russia supported in 1991 the creation of the UN Compensation Commission after Iraq’s invasion and occupation of Kuwait, which has achieved the payment of 52 billion in reparations to the victims.
Among the crimes committed, the Ukrainian representative mentioned the bombing of buildings and civil infrastructures, the demolition of almost half of the electric network and basic services, the displacement of the population and atrocities such as murder, rape, torture or forced deportations.
«This proposal is not just about Russia. It is for the benefit of all those who are being threatened or may be threatened further with the use of force,» he has pointed out.
The Russian ambassador to the UN, Vasili Nebenzia, criticized the proposed resolution before the vote for being a «classic example» of how a few countries try to enshrine an illegality. He recalled that the General Assembly is not a judicial body.
«The UN has no role to play in this process because the proposed mechanism is outside the UN and has no intention of being accountable for its activity before the General Assembly,» he reproached.
Moreover, he has assured that the financing of this body will «undoubtedly» come from Russian assets seized abroad to the tune of billions. «They want to finance their constant arms supplies to Kiev and cover the debt for the weapons already delivered,» he pointed out.
