Three of its allies left Russia during the latest UN General Assembly vote on a resolution calling the invasions of Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine last year “aggression”, another sign that Moscow’s geopolitical influence is waning.

China, Armenia and Kazakhstan joined most of the world to vote for UN resolution A77/L65 on Tuesday, and historian Serhiy Radchenko explained on his Twitter page that Beijing’s option is all the more interesting because it abstained from all the organization’s votes at the international level. war in Ukraine.

Radchenko, who is considered one of the most authoritative experts on issues related to Russia, says that the resolution does not directly condemn the aggression against Ukraine, but only “recognizes” that it has created “unprecedented challenges”.

Diplomats held two separate votes on the document, the first of which aimed specifically at including a paragraph about the war launched by Vladimir Putin on February 24 last year.

China, Armenia and Kazakhstan abstained from the first vote. But the representatives of all 3 countries then voted for the final resolution, after including that item, the 9th document.

A Russian representative complained during the debate about the “politicization” of the resolution, which was otherwise intended to regulate relations between the UN and the Council of Europe, and a Russian diplomat called for “all responsible members of the international community to vote against it.”

The UN vote on Russian aggression after Xi’s visit to Moscow

Radchenko puts the vote in context, recalling Chinese President Xi Jinping’s recent visit to Moscow, where he and Putin reiterated that relations between the two countries had reached an unprecedented level of closeness.

However, the historian recalls that the reference to the “boundless partnership” between Moscow and Beijing was no longer in the final document signed by the two authoritarian leaders.

“We also have the minister’s next visit [chinez] defense of Li Shangfu in Moscow and signs of closer Sino-Russian military cooperation. But we also have a recent phone conversation between Zelenskyi and Xi, in which Xi reaffirmed his support for the territorial integrity of Ukraine,” explains Serhiy Radchenko.

He, a professor at the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and Cardiff University, says the new UN vote shows at least 3 things.

Kazakhstan allegedly “stabbed Russia in the back” (again)

According to Radchenko, the vote primarily shows that Beijing is trying to tick boxes to show that it is more neutral on the war in Ukraine than its actual position, and that the recent discussion between Xi and Zelensky should be seen in the same light.

But according to a British historian of Soviet origin, the vote at the UN makes it clear to Moscow that it has very little leverage over China and “has to swallow what they give it.”

“Thirdly, China continues to lean in one direction (Russia does not), but with reservations. He seeks to freeze the conflict, not to see it expand or escalate indefinitely. Weakened/isolated Russia, which after the war is in debt to Beijing, serves China’s interests,” emphasizes Serhiy Radchenko.

Regarding the vote of Armenia and Kazakhstan, the historian says that each of the two countries has something to share with Russia, the government in Yerevan is deeply dissatisfied with the fact that Moscow refused it in the context of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, where Azerbaijan is located. making increasingly bold claims.

“Kazakhstan will not miss the opportunity to carefully stab Putin in the back. I would have done the same in their place,” said Radchenko, also recalling that, although the UN resolutions are not binding, they have rightly attracted a lot of attention.

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