UN members on Friday voted to allow Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to give a video address to the General Assembly, thwarting attempts by Russia and its allies to silence him.
Next week's annual gathering will bring heads of state from around the world to UN headquarters in New York to address the assembly. Such speeches are ordinarily given in person, though video addresses were allowed in 2020 and 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The US was one of 101 UN member states that voted in favour of a motion to allow Mr Zelenskyy to deliver his speech via video, given the “very exceptional circumstance” of the war with Russia.
Seven nations, including Russia, Belarus, Nicaragua, Cuba, North Korea, Syria and Eritrea voted against the measure. Nineteen countries abstained, including China, which appears to be growing increasingly concerned with the Russia-initiated war.
Belarus put forward a Russia-backed proposal to allow any country to address the General Assembly by video but it failed to garner enough votes to proceed.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to miss this year's assembly, but Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov may attend.
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Likened to diplomatic 'speed dating', UN General Assembly gives the world's top diplomats a chance to meet in person. The assembly has played host to a number of famous moments over the years. AP -
Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi famously addressed the UNGA for more than 90 minutes in 2009. Photo: UN -
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez said in 2006 that he could smell sulphur in the UN chamber after George W Bush spoke, likening the US leader to the 'Devil'. Photo: UN -
Mr Bush at UNGA in 2005. Photo: UN -
The UN Headquarters in New York. Residents of the Big Apple brace themselves for two weeks of traffic chaos as UNGA takes place. EPA -
South Korean ambassador to the UN Cho Hyun speaking in the chamber. Reuters -
Cuban leader Fidel Castro addressing the General Assembly. Photo: UN -
Former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2005. Photo: UN -
Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian National Authority, addresses UNGA. Photo: UN
The US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told reporters on Friday that the US delegation has no current plans to meet Russian diplomats.
“We will be having meetings with the Ukrainians,” Ms Thomas-Greenfield said.
“There are no plans at this time to have meetings with the Russians. They have not indicated that they have an interest in diplomacy.”
She called for nations to hold Russia accountable for its actions in Ukraine.
“Our response to Russia's flagrant violations cannot be to abandon the founding principles of this organisation that we believe so strongly in,” she said.
“We must double down on our commitment to a peaceful world and hold even closer our deeply held principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity, peace and security.”
US President Joe Biden will be delivering his speech to the UN General Assembly on Wednesday morning. He was originally set to speak on Tuesday but is attending Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral in London on Monday.
