MOSCOW, December 23. /TASS/. The outcome of the vote at the United Nations General Assembly on Ukraine’s resolution on alleged human rights violations in Crimea signals "a sobering trend," Chairman of the Russian Federation Council’s (upper house of parliament) Foreign Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachev told TASS.
"The review of the entire Russophobic army was not successful: 65 countries voted in favor of the Ukrainian ‘leaflet, 27 voted against, and another 70 abstained. In 2016 and 2017, 70 countries backed a similar resolution, 26 cast their vote against it and 77 and 76, respectively, abstained. A sobering trend is evident," Kosachev said.
According to the senator, the mentioning of the so-called political prisoners, including jailed Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov, who "became known in the West with the help of standard scenarios since the Chechen wars," did not work.
The document will have neither legal nor political repercussions, he stressed.
"This will affect life in Crimea not more than a resolution about the Moon," Kosachev noted.
Ukraine continues lobbying for anti-Russian acts on Crimea mainly with the West’s assistance and influence, which are becoming more far-fetched from the assessments about real life on the peninsula, he said.
The UN General Assembly on Saturday passed the Ukrainian resolution condemning alleged human rights violations in Crimea and "illegal establishment of laws, jurisdiction and administration" in the region. The UNGA’s fifth committee in charge of economic issues has refused to allocate funds to implement this decision.
The document, suggested by Kiev, was backed by 67 delegations this year, or five fewer than in 2017. Among those who supported the resolution were the United States, the European Union member-states, Turkey and Japan. Some 27 delegations voted against the document, including Russia, Belarus, China, India, Serbia, Syria, the Republic of South Africa, Nicaragua and Venezuela, while 70 countries abstained.