St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) voted with a large majority of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly on Wednesday, October 12 when a resolution was passed calling on countries not to recognize the four regions of Ukraine which Russia has illegally attempted to annex.

The UN resolution was passed following so-called referenda conducted by Russia late last month which sought the annexation of the Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine.

The results of the vote at the General Assembly were 143 Member States in favour, with five voting against, and 35 abstentions.

All CARICOM member states voted in favour of the resolution.

In the resolution, the General Assembly demanded that the Russian Federation immediately reverse its decisions of February 21 and September 29 related to the status of the four regions.

“These acts are a violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine and inconsistent with the principles of the United Nations Charter,” the Assembly declared.

It called on all States, international organizations and United Nations agencies not to recognize any alteration by the Russian Federation of the status of the four regions of Ukraine.

The countries which voted against the resolution were Belarus, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Nicaragua, Russia and Syria.

A majority of those countries abstaining were African nations, alongside China and India.

The General Assembly automatically took up the resolution for debate, triggered by Russia’s use of the veto in the Security Council over it’s attempted annexation.