![President of Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi at UN General Assembly in New York, United States on 24 September 2019 [Erçin Top/Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/20190924_2_38379763_47881775.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
Egypt has voted in favour of a UN resolution condemning Russia’s move to annex the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia.
The resolution says that instead these regions are temporarily occupied by Russia as an act of aggression.
The UN yesterday passed a resolution calling on countries not to recognise the four regions of Ukraine which Russia has claimed and demanded that Moscow reverse its “attempted illegal annexation.”
One hundred and forty-three member states voted in favour, five voted against, and 35 countries abstained.
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Russia, Syria, Belarus, Korea, and Nicaragua all voted against it whilst most countries abstaining were African states as well as China and India.
Russia initially called for the 193-member body to conduct a secret ballot on the move, but the General Assembly decided it would hold a public vote.
Moscow held referendums to annex the four partially occupied regions in Ukraine, but the move was denounced by Ukraine and its allies worldwide as illegal.
At the time it was reported that armed soldiers went door to door to collect votes.
At the end of September, the US and UK announced additional sanctions on Russia and visa restrictions on government officials, their family members, Russian and Belarusian military officials, and international suppliers supporting Russia’s military-industrial complex.
The EU announced it would propose new import bans on Russian products.
In March, Egypt also voted for a UNGA resolution demanding that Russia immediately end its military operations in Ukraine.