U.S. Seeks Collective Action On Russia-Ukraine Crisis At Rare UN Session

As the UN General Assembly has been holding its emergency special session this week — for the first time in 40 years — to recommend collective action on the situation in Ukraine, the Biden administration is seeking to maintain global continuity of support for Ukraine, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday met the DC diplomatic corps — representing more than 100 countries — in virtual meetings to urge them to support a UN resolution condemning the Kremlin’s annexation of Ukrainian territories.

"The international community has a responsibility to make clear that President Putin’s actions are completely unacceptable," the State Department spokesperson Ned Price told the daily press briefing.

"Ukraine, like every other sovereign country around the world, has the right to choose its own future and live peacefully inside its own internationally recognized borders," Price said.

And for the rest of the world, Price said, "there can be no such thing as neutrality for countries that subscribe to the principles of the UN Charter."

Asked by TURAN's Washington correspondent whether the countries that have remained "abstained" in the past, or left the room during voting — such as Azerbaijan — would be considered as "neutral", Price said, "we think countries around the world should exercise their vote, exercise their voice in the General Assembly in a way that protects and defends and promotes the core principles of the UN Charter, of the UN system."

"By definition, every country that is voting in the General Assembly this week subscribes to the principles of the UN Charter. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be a member state of the UN. It is incumbent on them to use their voice in a way that protects and promotes that charter," he added.

U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfeld in her turn, said on Tuesday that the upcoming voting is "not about choosing sides."

"This is not between Russia and the United States," she told TURAN's Washington correspondent during a virtual briefing organized by the State Department's New York Foreign Press Center.

"This is about defending the core values of the UN Charter. And so that’s the message that we are constantly repeating over and over and over again. It is not siding with the United States. It’s not siding against Russia.  It’s about defending the charter that every single member state of the UN – every single Member State has signed on to," she added.

Alex Raufoglu

Washington D.C.