The Russian Federation requested an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council to be held today to discuss Thursday night’s bombing of Yemen by Anglo-American military forces on Jan. 11 , unauthorized by any UN Security Council resolution, and therefore illegal under international law.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova explained in her Friday Jan. 12 press conference that the resolution which the UNSC passed earlier on Jan. 11 condemned Houthi attacks on vessels in the Red Sea, but it did not authorize military action, RT reported. She denounced the attack on Yemen as “yet another manifestation of how the Anglo-Saxons distort SC [United Nations Security Council] resolutions and show utter disdain for international laws in order to escalate the situation in the region in pursuit of their destructive agenda,” as reported by TASS.
Russia had abstained on Jan. 11 from voting on that UNSC resolution out of concern that U.S. activities at the UN Security Council “were just a pretext for further escalation of the situation in the region.” That concern has proven justified, she said, pointing to the U.S. record of manipulating UN decisions in attempts to justify military adventures in the 2011 NATO bombing of Libya and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Now, “a massive military escalation in the area of the Red Sea may nullify all positive trends which have emerged recently in the Yemen reconciliation process, and trigger destabilization of the entire Middle East.”
Many other nations voiced similar concerns. China (which also abstained from voting on the resolution) urged “relevant parties to keep calm and exercise restraint to prevent the conflict from expanding,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said today. “China calls on relevant parties to play a constructive and responsible role in keeping the Red Sea peaceful and stable, which serves the common interests of the international community.”
