Russia faces increased isolation

Russia has been increasingly isolated in the world as the international community is evoking with public indignation on evidence of Russian soldiers atrociously killing Ukraine civilians. Russia became the first country among UN permanent members to be removed from the UN Human Rights Council. The United States and the European Union are increasingly imposing stronger sanctions on Russia. The European Union, which were reluctant to pose energy sanctions on Russia due to high dependency on Russian coal, oil, and natural gas, has announced that it would ban coal imports from Russia. The United States passed a law that removes most favored nation status for Russia.

The UN General Assembly called an emergency special session on Thursday morning (local time) at the headquarters of New York and passed the resolution to remove Russia’s status as permanent member from the UN Human Rights Council. Ninety three were in favor, while there were 24 and 59 opposition and abstained votes, respectively. The resolution passed with two thirds of the 193 member countries in favor, excluding abstained votes. It is the first time for a permanent member of the UN Security Council to be removed from a UN body.

Countries that voted in favor included South Korea, the United States and other G7 countries, Turkey, Georgia, Israel. South Korea was also included among the 58 countries that jointly proposed the resolution. Those who opposed include Russia, North Korea, China, Cuba, Iran, Belarus, Syria. These countries asked to speak before the vote, arguing that the allegations on the atrocities carried out in Bucha had been forged and there were political motives behind the resolution bill.


Jae-Dong Yu jarrett@donga.com · Jin-Woo Shin niceshin@donga.com