The UN Votes to Condemn Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: And at the United Nations today, nations voted 141-5 to condemn Putin’s invasion. The five against were Russia, Belarus, Syria, Eritrea, and North Korea; 35 countries abstained. Barbara Woodward is the British ambassador to the U.N. And, before that, she was ambassador to China. And she’s joining me now from headquarters in New York. Welcome, Ambassador, to the program. Let me start by just stating that this is only the 11th such emergency General Assembly session since the creation of the U.N., the last one being in 1997. How loud a signal was the vote today? What do you expect it to achieve?

BARBARA WOODWARD, BRITISH AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: Well, good evening, Christiane. And I have just come up from a packed General Assembly chamber. It was a historic vote this evening, as you say, for two reasons. The first, we haven’t had a vote like this in 40 years here at the U.N., an emergency special session of the General Assembly, and, secondly, for the magnitude of the numbers, as you said, 141 votes in favor. So that’s nearly three-quarters of the General Assembly standing up to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, deplore Belarus’ involvement in that invasion, and demand that Russian boots get off the ground and the territory of Ukraine.

AMANPOUR: Do you think that it will — it’s obviously nonbinding, as you said. What actually really can be done at the U.N.? It is a signal, certainly, to Russia, which likes to — it often likes to sort of wrap itself up in international legitimacy. What actually will it mean in the real world?

WOODWARD: I think in the real world, Christiane, first of all, it shows Russia just how isolated they are internationally, in the company of only four other countries out of a totality of the U.N. membership. And the second thing it does, it reinforces everything that we have been doing on the economic sanctions front in support to Ukraine, humanitarian aid. All countries are saying they are behind this and they recognize the threat when a permanent member of the United Nations in an unprovoked and premeditated way invades another smaller country. And that’s right at the heart of what the U.N. is about. We had a very moving speech from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the smallest country ever to sit on the Security Council, saying it’s the principle of our national boundaries that we are entitled to see observed and protected at the U.N. that has been violated by Russia in respect to Ukraine.