UPDATE - UN General Assembly calls for Russia to pay reparations to Ukraine

UPDATES WITH DETAILS

By Betul Yuruk

UNITED NATIONS (AA) - The UN General Assembly passed a resolution on Monday calling for Russia to pay reparations to Ukraine over the war Moscow launched on its neighbor in February.

The resolution passed by the 193-member world body also demands Russia be held accountable for any violations of international law in or against Ukraine.

Ninety-four countries, including Türkiye, voted in favor of the resolution, while 14 voted against and 74 abstained.

Russia, China, Iran, and Syria were among the member states that opposed the resolution.

The resolution also calls for the establishment of an "international mechanism" for reparations for damage, loss, or injury arising from "the internationally wrongful acts" of Russia against Ukraine.

It recommends the creation of an international register of damage to serve as a record, in documentary form, of evidence and claims information on damage, loss, or injury to all natural and legal persons concerned as well as to promote and coordinate evidence-gathering.

- Not legally binding

General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding, but they carry political weight.

To date the world body has passed four resolutions condemning Russian aggression in Ukraine.

The Security Council, the UN's most powerful body, has been paralyzed from taking action as Russia is one of the council's five veto-wielding powers.

"Seventy-seven years ago the Soviet Union demanded and received reparations, calling it a moral right of a country that has suffered war and occupation. Today, Russia, who claims to be the successor of the 20th century’s tyranny, is doing everything it can to avoid paying the price for its own war and occupation, trying to escape accountability for the crimes it is committing," Ukraine's Ambassador to the UN Sergiy Kyslytsya told the General Assembly. "Russia will fail, just like it is failing on the battlefield."

He accused Russia of committing atrocities in Ukraine including murder, rape, torture, forced deportation, and looting, and it said that it is time to hold Russia accountable.

Russia's UN envoy called the initiative ‘‘flawed.’’

"The co-sponsors must realize that adoption of such a resolution would trigger consequences that may boomerang against themselves," said Vassily Nebenzia.

The European Union’s UN Envoy Olof Skoog said that the destruction in Ukraine is overwhelming as a result of the deliberate targeting of infrastructure, hospitals, schools, and homes.

Skoog called on member states to hold Russia accountable for its wrongful acts and wanton destruction.