Foreign Affairs Minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey has stated that Ghana will not recognize the Russian Federation’s annexation of Ukrainian territories.
On Thursday, she addressed a special meeting of the United Nations (UN) Security Council on the Maintenance of Ukraine’s Peace and Security in New York City, saying that Ghana remains committed to its position that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is illegal and unjustified.
“We have repeatedly expressed our principled opposition to the aggression against Ukraine, which we regard as a violation of international law and the charter’s principles” (UN Charter).
Ukraine, as a sovereign state and a member of this organization (UN), we believe, has every right and, indeed, a responsibility.
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“We have repeatedly expressed our principled opposition to the aggression against Ukraine, which we regard as a violation of international law and the charter’s principles” (UN Charter).
Ukraine, as a sovereign state and a member of this organization (UN), has every right, and indeed a responsibility, we believe, to defend its territorial integrity and political independence,” Foreign Minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey stated.
“Ghana does not and will not recognize any territory acquired unilaterally and forcibly as dismembered from a sovereign entity,” Miss Botchwey added.
Seize fire
In her statement, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration reiterated Ghana’s call for “the Russian Federation to immediately and unconditionally seize its operations, withdraw its troops from Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders,” as well as to respect its western “neighbour’s sovereignty and political independence.”
“A credible pathway for a genuine diplomatic process is urgently required.” The gun’s barrel does not provide such a path.
It only leads to unnecessary deaths and destruction on both sides. “The cost of the war has been high, not only for the parties but also for the rest of the world,” said Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey.
Proposed referenda
Following stunning battlefield setbacks in the last two weeks, Russia moved to consolidate its grip on territory it occupies in eastern and southern Ukraine (Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk, and Luhansk), as Kremlin proxies there announced plans for referendums on annexation to Russia on Tuesday, indicating a possible escalation of the seven-month-old war.
If Russia goes ahead with annexation, even if no other countries recognize it, any further military action by Ukraine in those regions could be interpreted as an attack on Russia itself, justifying any military response by the world’s largest nuclear arsenal.
Partial mobilization
According to Russia’s Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu, President Vladimir Putin announced a “partial mobilization” of Russian citizens on Tuesday, September 21, 2022, in what several international law experts see as an escalation of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Putin stated in his announcement that those with military experience would be subject to conscription and that the decree, which had already been signed, was required to “protect our homeland, its sovereignty, and its territorial integrity.”
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