Russia on Friday didn’t win sufficient votes for re-election to the United Nation’s delivery company’s governing council after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had urged international locations to not permit Moscow to be a part of the UN physique’s government arm.
The end result is one other blow for Russia after it failed in its bid to return to the UN’s high human rights physique in October, in an election seen as a key check of Western efforts to maintain Moscow remoted.
Final yr Moscow additionally didn’t win sufficient votes for re-election to the UN aviation company’s governing council.
The London-based Worldwide Maritime Group (IMO) is liable for regulating the security and safety of worldwide delivery and stopping air pollution and includes 175 member state international locations. Russia has been a member since 1958 and has been constantly re-elected to the IMO Council.
With voting underway on Friday, 40 international locations have been elected by secret poll to the IMO Council, which supervises the work of the physique. They embody China, Greece, Italy, Japan, Liberia, Norway, Panama, South Korea, Britain and america.
Ukraine, which was not standing for election, had pushed for Russia to be ousted from the IMO Council.
“Russia has no place within the Worldwide Maritime Group nor in its governing our bodies, as a result of nobody in current many years has triggered better hurt to free navigation than Russia,” Zelenskiy informed the IMO Meeting in a distant tackle on Monday.
Russia’s IMO delegation informed the Meeting earlier on Friday that it deserved its place on the Council.
“A balancing and constructive position is what our nation contributes, not simply to this physique, however to the Group as an entire,” Russia’s delegation stated in translated feedback.
In October, Russia stated the IMO was departing from its neutral position as a result of “exterior stress” which it stated was impacting the honest remedy of all member international locations.
(Reuters – Reporting by Jonathan Saul; Modifying by Elaine Hardcastle)
