Suela Janina, the Albanian ambassador to the UN, must have had difficult days between last weekend and Monday.
Diplomatic sources close to her have told Lapsi.al that she has received conflicting orders and messages from her bosses in Tirana. The issue at hand was an important topic, the UN Parliamentary Assembly resolution on the anniversary of the Russian aggression in Ukraine.
For the first time since the start of the war, the US and Europe are deeply divided in their positions. While Brussels continues to blame Russia and defend the territorial integrity of Ukraine, for Washington it seems more important to normalize relations with Moscow and end the conflict as soon as possible. Between these two fires, Albanian diplomacy has been caught in the nightmare of who to ruin and who to fix.
On Friday, the Albanian ambassador in New York received instructions to become a sponsor (i.e. in the group of proposing countries) of a draft resolution initiated by Ukraine and supported by key EU countries.
So Albania should have maintained its permanent position and lined up in favor of a resolution that demanded the unequivocal repetition of the Assembly’s previous demands: the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukrainian territory and the cessation of Russia’s military actions. This was done and Ms. Janina wrote her name among the sponsors of the resolution. Up to this point, everything seemed normal.
Prime Minister Edi Rama has been one of the biggest supporters of Ukraine and Zelensky. He boasted about the way he had shown the country to the Russian ambassador in the Security Council. Elisa Spiropali even boasted that the number of tourists in Albania was increasing due to the anti-Russian stances of the global leader. The latter had thrown aside the suit of the leader of a small country and had used his personal plane to gather Balkan leaders on a visit to Kiev and had invited Zelensky to the Tirana meeting. So Edi Rama had become much more pro-Ukrainian in three years than many powerful Western countries.
But with Trump’s victory, things suddenly turned around and now for the US, Kiev is to blame for starting the war. In this context, the US declared that it would not vote for the resolution sponsored by Albania but would present its own resolution to the UN General Assembly. This put many ridiculous leaders of banana republics, who had to compensate for the lack of legitimacy in the country with foreign support, in a difficult position. For example, Mickovski of Macedonia decided to withdraw from sponsoring the Ukrainian draft when he learned that the US was against it. Aleksandar Vučić, although he voted for the document supported by the Europeans, declared the next day that this was a mistake. Edi Rama went even further in his arrogance. He ordered Albania to sponsor both the EU-backed and the American-backed resolutions, which were completely opposite. So to put it concretely, it is the same as if a member of parliament or a political force proposes in parliament both a pro-abortion law and one against it. Ambassador Janina was ordered to do something unheard of in the corridors of the UN: to become the laughing stock of the world among her colleagues and to do something unheard of in the corridors of the glass palace: to list Albania’s name as a sponsor of both resolutions.
But the funny story doesn’t end there. On Monday morning, the third anniversary of the Russian aggression, a first resolution prepared by Ukraine and its European allies was adopted in the Assembly with 93 votes in favor, 18 against and 65 abstentions, from 193 member states. This time, the US vote in favor of the text, which the Russian ambassador called “a worthless piece of paper,” was missing.
Washington decided to put its own draft to the vote. Defying Kiev and its European allies, the United States, for its part, submitted to the Assembly a competing resolution that called for a quick end to the conflict without any reference to Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
The very short text that called for “the conflict to be ended as soon as possible and appealed for a lasting peace” was not sent for a vote as it was. It was significantly modified with several amendments by several European countries that clearly criticized Russia for this conflict, declared their commitment to the territorial integrity of Ukraine and called for a “just peace”. When they saw that they were in the minority and that their proposal had been modified by the Europeans, the US did not vote for the resolution that it proposed itself. Ironically, Albania also followed suit by voting against a draft that it had agreed to sponsor itself. Ambassador Suela Janina became the butt of her counterparts by implementing the orders coming from the prime minister in Tirana.
Not only had she made a fool of herself by breaking the record and supporting two different document proposals, the European one and the American one, but out of a desire to please everyone, when the US voted against it, she also voted against the draft she had sponsored herself.
In fact, as sources from New York claimed for Lapsi.al, Ms. Janina was aware of the difficult position she had to hold, but she was convinced that this mistake had to do with the stagnation that has gripped the Albanian Prime Minister after the change of power in Washington. Edi Rama is no longer able to decide whether it is still profitable to be pro-Zelensky, proving that all the theater so far has been a common farce.
Starting from Albania’s absurd stance, former Socialist Foreign Minister Ditmir Bushati commented in an English message on “X”. Albania set a bad precedent during the vote on Ukraine today by co-sponsoring at the same time two resolutions different in content and purpose. Since Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, our position has been clear, in support of Ukraine and the principles enshrined in the UN Charter. A stable position in complex geopolitical circumstances is important for credibility on the international stage. While small states like Albania may feel under pressure to balance opposing interests, it is key to remain true to our core values and build a reputation for principled diplomacy” – writes former Foreign Minister Ditmir Bushati.
