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Ukraine crisis: Russia isolated in UN Crimea vote | Ukraine crisis: Russia isolated in UN Crimea vote |
(35 minutes later) | |
Russia has vetoed a draft UN resolution criticising Sunday's secession referendum in Ukraine's Crimea region - the only Security Council member to vote against the measure. | Russia has vetoed a draft UN resolution criticising Sunday's secession referendum in Ukraine's Crimea region - the only Security Council member to vote against the measure. |
China, regarded as a Russian ally on the issue, abstained from the vote. | China, regarded as a Russian ally on the issue, abstained from the vote. |
Western powers criticised Russia's veto over the referendum, which will ask Crimeans if they want to rejoin Russia. | Western powers criticised Russia's veto over the referendum, which will ask Crimeans if they want to rejoin Russia. |
In Moscow, tens of thousands rallied against Russia's actions in Ukraine, the biggest such protest in two years. | In Moscow, tens of thousands rallied against Russia's actions in Ukraine, the biggest such protest in two years. |
Russia intervened in the Crimean peninsula after the fall of Ukraine's pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych on 22 February. | Russia intervened in the Crimean peninsula after the fall of Ukraine's pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych on 22 February. |
Mr Yanukovych had sparked months of unrest across Ukraine by pulling out of a deal on closer ties with the European Union, and later opting for closer ties with Russia. | Mr Yanukovych had sparked months of unrest across Ukraine by pulling out of a deal on closer ties with the European Union, and later opting for closer ties with Russia. |
The Crimean region was part of Russia until 1954 and most of its residents are ethnic Russians, many of whom would prefer to be governed by Moscow rather than Kiev. | |
Russia's Black Sea fleet is also still housed in Crimea. | |
But Russia has signed agreements promising to uphold Ukraine's territorial integrity. | |
Crimea's regional parliament instigated the secession referendum after MPs voted overwhelmingly to support rejoining Russia. | |
But the national parliament in Kiev ruled the referendum unconstitutional, and earlier on Saturday voted to disband the regional assembly. | |
At the United Nations, 13 members of the Security Council backed a resolution that called for all nations to respect Ukraine's territorial integrity and condemned the referendum as illegal. | |
Western diplomats had expected Russia to veto the document. | |
But they were hoping that China would abstain to isolate Russia. | |
The BBC's Nick Bryant in New York says China and Russia usually work in tandem at the Security Council. | |
But Beijing is sensitive about issues of territorial integrity, because of fears it could send a message to its own restive regions of Tibet and Xinjiang. |