For first time, Ukraine did not support Cuba’s annual UN resolution against US embargo
Ukraine voted against the annual resolution at the UN General Assembly on lifting the US embargo on Cuba for the first time.
This was announced by the head of the President's Office, Andrii Yermak, according to Censor.NET.
Ukraine voted against
Among the reasons for Ukraine's decision to vote against are the following:
- Cuban citizens are participating in the war that the Russian Federation started against Ukraine on the side of Russia as mercenaries;
- Russia is using Cuba to circumvent sanctions imposed to force it to stop its full-scale invasion.
‘This is not about the Cuban people — it is about countering authoritarian expansion. The Cuban regime must change its destructive policies,’ Yermak added.
What the resolution is about
Only seven countries voted against lifting the embargo on Cuba. These are the United States, Ukraine, Argentina, Hungary, Israel, Paraguay and North Macedonia. 165 countries voted in favour of the resolution to lift the embargo, 12 abstained.
The United States first imposed an embargo on arms sales to Cuba in 1958, during the regime of Fulgencio Batista.
And in 1960, almost two years after the Cuban revolution overthrew the Batista regime, the US imposed an embargo on exports to Cuba, with the exception of food and medicine, after Havana nationalised American oil refineries belonging to Washington without compensation.
The embargo was subsequently expanded to cover almost all exports.
Since 1992, Cuba has annually submitted a resolution to the UN calling on the US to lift the embargo, which is supported by the majority of countries in the world.
