UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. General Assembly approved a resolution Monday condemning Russia’s occupation of Crimea and the city of Sebastapol and urging the withdrawal of its military forces “without delay.”The vote in the 193-member assembly was 63-19 in favor of the measure, with 66 nations abstaining and 45 not voting. It came on the same day the presidents of Ukraine and Russia met in Paris and agreed to revive the peace process on the bloody separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine and exchange all prisoners. Russia sent troops into Crimea and annexed the peninsula in 2014. It has supported separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine in a five-year war that has killed 14,000 people. The resolution expresses the assembly’s “grave concern over the progressive militarization of Crimea by the Russian Federation as the occupying power,” its use of seized Ukrainian military industry enterprises, and the conscription of Crimean residents into the Russian armed forces.

Source: International New York Times December 10, 2019 00:22 UTC