Russian Liberal Democratic Party leader Leonid Slutsky (TASS)

Chairman of the Russian State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee Leonid Slutsky stated Thursday that the vote by the United Nations General Assembly on referendums in the Donbass republics, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, was the result of Washington's intimidation campaign against other countries.

"The US uses blackmail and arm-twisting to turn the UN into a branch of its Department of State. The General Assembly’s vote on an anti-Russian resolution rejecting the referendums in the DPR and the LPR [Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics] and the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, was the result of Washington’s campaign to intimidate other countries," Slutsky posted on Telegram.

The senior lawmaker said that steps to block Russia's initiative to hold a secret ballot would have violated the rules because it would have "reduced the number of those supporting the draft resolution."

"In any case, it's too soon for US Vice President Joe Biden to declare victory and declare that the world has sent a clear message to Russia. It's not the world, but US hangers-on and those who have been put under pressure", Slutsky stressed.

Furthermore, he noted that countries, which did not vote, accounted for "more than one-third of the world's population".

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) approved, on Wednesday, a resolution condemning the referenda on the accession of the Lugansk People's Republic (LPR), Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), as well as the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions to Russia.

The resolution was backed by 143 countries, with five voting against it and 35 abstaining. Moreover, the resolution called for a peaceful resolution to the war in Ukraine.