Vote at UN highlights isolation of Moscow

Russia last night vetoed a UN Security Council resolution telling Moscow to stop attacking Ukraine and withdraw all troops immediately.

The veto was expected, but the United States and its supporters argued that the vote would highlight Moscow’s international isolation.

The 11-1 vote — with China, India and the United Arab Emirates abstaining — showed significant but not total opposition to Russia’s invasion of its smaller, militarily weaker neighbour.

The resolution’s failure paves the way for backers to call for a swift vote on a similar measure in the 193-member UN General Assembly, where there are no vetoes. There was no immediate timetable for a potential assembly vote.

Pope Francis meanwhile visited the Russian embassy to personally “express his concern about the war” in an extraordinary, hands-on papal gesture without recent precedent.

Popes usually receive ambassadors and heads of state in the Vatican, and diplomatic protocol would have called for the Vatican foreign minister to summon the ambassador.

For Francis, the Vatican head of state, to leave the walled city state and travel a short distance to the Russian embassy to the Holy See in Rome was a sign of his anger at Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.