UNSC adopts resolution demanding halt to Yemeni operations in Red Sea
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The Russian permanent representative to the UN Security Council is calling for amendments to a draft resolution that the Council adopted, condemning attacks by the Yemeni Armed Forces on Israeli ships en route to the occupation entity in the Red Sea.
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Members of the Security Council gather for a meeting on the events in the Red Sea. (United Nations)
The UN Security Council approved Resolution 2722 led by the United States, urging Yemeni Armed Forces to cease their activities in the Red Sea, as per Sputnik's correspondent on Wednesday.
The resolution "demands that the Houthis immediately cease all such attacks, which impede global commerce and undermine navigational rights and freedoms as well as regional peace and security, and further demands that the Houthis immediately release the Galaxy Leader and its crew," according to the text.
It was approved by 11 countries, while four chose to abstain, namely Russia, China, Algeria, and Mozambique.
The resolution also commends the initiatives undertaken by member states within the International Maritime Organization to "improve the safety and ensure the secure passage of shipping vessels in the Red Sea."
Russia's requested amendments
Russia's permanent representative to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzia, asserted that the United States, through the adoption of this resolution, aims to legitimize the actions of the Prosperity Guardian coalition in the Red Sea.
Earlier, the UNSC turned down three proposals put forth by Russia to modify the wording of the draft resolution. One of these proposals explicitly cited the Israeli war on Gaza as the cause for the recent escalation in the Red Sea.
The document, authored by the United States and Japan, "condemns in the strongest terms" the operations in the Red Sea since last November and demands that the Yemeni Armed Forces immediately end their operations.
Meanwhile, Russia had proposed adding the phrase "in particular, the conflict in the Gaza Strip" to the provision that calls for the need to "address the primary reasons, including conflicts that increase regional tensions."
Only the United States and Britain voted against the three Russian amendments.
Nebenzia questions UNSC resolution
Russia’s Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzia said at a UNSC meeting that the latest resolution condemning the Yemeni operations in the Red Sea that was adopted by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) cannot be viewed as legitimizing actions by the Washington-led coalition.
"We would like to stress once again that this resolution cannot be viewed as legitimizing actions in the Red Sea by the so-called coalition made up of the United States and its satellites," he said.
According to Nebenzia, the United States and its allies "cobbled together the so-called international coalition primarily consisting of US ships that should allegedly ensure security, while, in effect, the legitimacy of its actions raises some very serious questions in terms of international law."
"We regret that, despite insistent demands by quite a number of delegations, including Arab representatives, the document has no mention of the deplorable situation in the Gaza Strip as the genuine primary reason behind the instability in the Red Sea," the Russian envoy said.
Read next: US keep UNSC members ‘hostage’ by covering Israeli actions: Nebenzia
In turn, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that the "threat to navigational rights and freedoms in the Red Sea is a global challenge and necessitates a global response." She added that "with this resolution, the Council has lived up to its responsibility to help ensure the free flow of lawful transit through the Red Sea continues unimpeded."
By abstaining from the vote, the Algerian Ambassador to the United Nations, Amar Bendjama, conveyed his country's regret for not considering two significant elements in the draft resolution, which were previously a source of concern for Algeria.
Bendjama elucidated that military intervention in Yemen "poses the potential risk of undermining the efforts previously undertaken by various United Nations agencies, particularly those led by the UN envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg."
