Photo: the United Nations

Serbia was the only country in the Balkans to back Russia over a UN General Assembly resolution put forward by Ukraine, which condemns the human rights situation in Russian-annexed Crimea and calls Russia an “occupying power”.

The General Assembly approved the resolution on “The Situation of Human Rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol [Ukraine]” on Tuesday with the support of 70 delegations.

Twenty-six states including Russia, China, Iran and Venezuela, opposed the resolution. However, many UN member states, 76, including Bosnia, abstained from voting.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister thanked the countries that backed Kiev’s resolution in a tweet.

This resolution on #Crimea is the toughest one. The pressure on Russia is being increased. We are grateful for your strong position and support, friends! #CrimeaIsBleeding pic.twitter.com/dP40pO3YZF

— Pavlo Klimkin (@PavloKlimkin) December 19, 2017

The resolution, among other things, condemns arbitrary detentions and other rights violations in Crimea, the compulsory naturalisation of Ukrainian nationals and the retroactive application of Russian laws to Crimea, and calls for the resumption of Ukrainian- and Tatar-language education.

Russia seized the peninsula from Ukraine after Ukraine’s pro-Russian President, Viktor Yanukovych, was deposed in Kiev in February 2014. Most Crimeans are ethnic Russians.

The status of the region had been in dispute ever since the Soviet Union dissolved in the early 1990s but became a live issue once a pro-EU government took over in Kiev.

Russia will likely ignore the assembly resolution. However, its approval shows Ukraine is succeeding in keeping the subject on the international agenda.

Meanwhile, Serbia’s already frayed relations with Ukraine worsened after the Ukrainian news agency Unian reported on Tuesday that a group of mercenary snipers from Serbia had arrived in the Russian-held Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine to fight alongside pro-Russian separatists.

Kiev has accused Serbia of turning a blind eye to Serbs taking part in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

In an interview with BIRN, Ukraine’s ambassador to Belgrade, Oleksandr Aleksandrovych, accused the Serbian authorities of “not doing enough to solve this issue” and said that Kiev had warned Serbia about this problem repeatedly but to no avail.

The head of Ukraine’s permanent delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Iryna Friz, commenting on the reports on Facebook, said she expected the international community to condemn the involvement of Serbian mercenaries in the fighting.

“We are drafting an appeal to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly regarding this issue and I am sure that it is necessary to inform all international institutions of the shameful participation of Serbian mercenaries in hostilities against our state on the side of the Kremlin puppets,” she wrote, the Ukrainian website, Censor, said.

Among the Serbian citizens allegedly fighting in the Donbas region she named Dejan Beric, who recently confirmed to BIRN that he is indeed fighting on pro-Russian side in Ukraine.

Russia and Serbia historically have warm relations, based on Slavic ethnic ties and common membership of the Orthodox Church.

Most Serbs view Moscow as one of their biggest international allies, especially in the battle to prevent international recognition of the independence of the former province of Kosovo.

Politicians from the two countries have for decades maintained close relations – affirmed by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic’s visit this week to Moscow.

Russia has regularly condemned Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008, and has since voted against the membership of Kosovo in international institutions in line with Belgrade’s policies.

In turn, Serbia has refused to join Western sanctions on Russia for its perceived role in fomenting the conflict in Ukraine, despite numerous calls from Brussels reminding Serbia that – as an EU candidate country – it needs to align its foreign policy with that of the EU.