Romania at the UN · 1955–2025
How independent of Moscow was Romania? What 70 years of UN votes show
In June 1978 the Queen received Nicolae Ceaușescu, Romania's communist leader, on a state visit to Britain. He came with a reputation as the Soviet bloc's maverick. That year, the UN's records show, Romania cast the same vote as Moscow in two votes out of three; Bulgaria did in 99% of its votes.
The skyline of votes
Every window is a vote. Yellow and red: Romania voted differently from Moscow. Blue: Romania did not vote.
A tower for every year, a window for each of the 7,607 recorded votes counted in the General Assembly. Moscow here is the USSR and, from 1992, Russia. Tap a tower and its year opens underneath.
Romania and the USSR / Russia, 1955–2025. Same vote: 4,919 of 7,337 (67%). Different vote: 2,418, of which yes against no: 948. Romania did not vote: 204.
- same vote
- one step apart: yes and abstain, or abstain and no
- yes against no
- did not vote while the other country voted
- no comparison: one of the two was not a member, or the other country did not vote
1978
Recorded votes in the General Assembly: 121. Romania and the USSR, same vote: 74 of 110 (67%). Romania did not vote: 10.
- 99%Bulgaria, same vote as the USSR
- 99%Czechoslovakia, same vote as the USSR
- 100%East Germany, same vote as the USSR
- 98%Hungary, same vote as the USSR
- 89%Poland, same vote as the USSR
- 67%Romania, same vote as the USSR
Votes in which Romania and the USSR did not vote alike: 46.
The reputation had been earned in a handful of episodes: in 1967 Romania would not vote to condemn Israel as Moscow asked, in 1968 it condemned the invasion of Czechoslovakia, and it stayed on good terms with China. The state visit, from 13 to 16 June 1978, came ten years after the second of them. The UN General Assembly kept a longer record. Counted here are 7,607 of its recorded votes, taken between December 1955 and September 2025, each showing how every country voted; each is a window in the skyline above. Counted one by one, they put a number on the reputation. The year of the visit turns out to be the one in which Romania and Moscow voted alike least often in the communist decades, and even then they did so in 67% of the votes.
The answer in brief#
- Eleven years with almost no difference. Between 1956 and 1966 Romania and the USSR both voted in 494 votes. The vote differed eight times.
- Then Romania parts from Moscow far more often than the others. From 1956 to 1989 Romania voted differently from the USSR 490 times. Poland did so 71 times, Hungary 40 times, Czechoslovakia 18 times, Bulgaria 14 times, East Germany twice.
- The low point is 1978, ten years after the invasion of Czechoslovakia. In 1978 Romania cast the same vote as the USSR in 74 of 110 votes, or 67%. Bulgaria did so in 99%.
- Three times in four the difference was one step. Of the 490 different votes, 115 were yes against no. In the other 375, one of the two abstained, more often the USSR.
- On the situation in Cambodia and in Afghanistan Romania did not vote. On all 20 resolutions about the situation in Cambodia and the situation in Afghanistan voted between 1979 and 1989, the USSR voted no and Romania did not vote. On the three resolutions about human rights in Afghanistan, voted between 1985 and 1987, Romania voted no, as did the USSR.
- Voting differently did not bring Romania closer to Washington. In 1971–1989 it cast the same vote as Yugoslavia in 91% of votes, as China in 87%, as the USSR in 82% and as the United States in 19%.
- In 1987–1989 the difference all but disappears, mostly because Moscow moved. The USSR voted yes in 80% of votes in 1982–1986 and in 97% in 1987–1989. Romania was already voting yes in 92% and rose to 98%.
- In 1990 the vote changes within a single year. Agreement with the USSR falls from 98% to 60%. Joining NATO in 2004 and the European Union in 2007 does not show in the votes: from 1993, Romania casts the same vote as the majority of EU members in at least 91% of votes every year.
- Romania
- Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland
1955–1966
Eleven years in which Romania's vote can hardly be told from Moscow's#
Romania was admitted to the United Nations on 14 December 1955, together with fifteen other states, among them Bulgaria, Hungary and Albania. It cast its first vote in the General Assembly the next day.
From 1956 to the end of 1966 Romania and the USSR both voted in 494 votes, and voted alike in 486. The other allies stay as close to Moscow: in the same years Bulgaria never votes differently, Czechoslovakia and Poland do so five times each and Hungary six, most of them in November 1956 and April 1961. On 4 November 1956, when the Assembly called on the Soviet Union to stop its armed attack on Hungary and withdraw its forces, Romania, drawn by lot to vote first, voted no, as did the USSR, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and Poland.
Among the votes connected with resolutions, the first apart from the whole bloc came on 27 November 1963. The Assembly voted on a resolution about a Latin America free of nuclear weapons. The USSR, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland abstained. Romania voted yes, with the United States and Yugoslavia. Resolution 1911 (XVIII) passed by 91 votes to none, with 15 abstentions.
Three more such votes follow by 1966, all three about nuclear weapons. In two of them Romania votes yes while the USSR and the others abstain. In the third, a resolution of November 1965 on non-proliferation, it is the other way round: the USSR votes yes and Romania abstains.
The skyline has a gap at 1964. The Assembly's nineteenth session voted on no resolution, because of the dispute over member states in arrears with their contributions. Its one roll call, on 18 February 1965, was procedural and is not in the count: Romania abstained while the USSR, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland voted no (A/PV.1330, paragraph 103).
1967–1970
1967: Moscow asks the Assembly to condemn Israel, and Romania abstains. 1968 barely shows#
After the Six-Day War the Assembly met in emergency special session, and the USSR put forward a draft resolution. On 4 July 1967 the draft was voted on in parts. On the preamble, which called Israel's action a premeditated aggression, Romania abstained. It also abstained on the paragraph condemning Israel, on the one about reparations and on the one appealing to the Security Council to act. It voted yes once, on the paragraph demanding the withdrawal of Israeli forces. The USSR, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland voted yes on all five. None of the five parts passed.
“In the light of these considerations, the Romanian delegation will vote in favour of the draft resolution proposed by the non-aligned group of States.”
The non-aligned draft, for which both Romania and the USSR voted, was not adopted either. The same day Romania also abstained on Albania's draft, which condemned the United States and Britain; the USSR voted yes.
In 1967 the votes in which Romania parted from the whole bloc reached 10, and agreement with Moscow fell from 98% to 80%.
1968 is the year of the balcony speech: on 21 August, from the balcony of the Communist Party's Central Committee in Bucharest, the capital, Ceaușescu condemned the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Romania's own allies. Romania took no part in the invasion. Little of that year shows in the UN votes. None of the 117 resolutions the Assembly adopted in the session that began that autumn, with or without a vote, has Czechoslovakia in its title. The five votes in which Romania parted from the bloc that year were about other things: a conference of states without nuclear weapons, Korea and the budget.
One of them was nonetheless a first. On 20 December 1968, on resolution 2456 A (XXIII) about the conference of non-nuclear-weapon states, Romania voted yes while the USSR, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland voted no. It is the first yes against no between Romania and the USSR.
1971–1980
1971–1978: from one different vote in six to one in three#
On 25 October 1971 the Assembly recognised the representatives of the People's Republic of China as the only legitimate representatives of China at the UN and expelled those of Chiang Kai-shek. Romania was one of the states that submitted the draft and voted yes, as did the USSR: resolution 2758 (XXVI) passed by 76 votes to 35.
“Yesterday evening's vote … was a triumph of political wisdom and lucidity, of legality and justice.”
Six weeks later the two voted yes and no on the same resolution. On 7 December 1971 the Assembly called on India and Pakistan to cease fire and withdraw their forces. Romania voted yes, with China and the United States. The USSR, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland voted no: 104 to 11.
From 1971, too, different votes became routine, and many were about money. On the UN budget for 1972 the USSR voted no and Romania abstained.
The low point is 1978. Romania cast the same vote as the USSR in 74 of 110 votes, or 67%. In the same year Bulgaria cast the same vote as the USSR in 99% of votes.
Part of that low is the budget. Without the votes on budget and administration, agreement in 1978 is 81%, and the lowest year becomes 1972, at 75%.
Poland, too, has an unusual 1978, at 89%. Of the 71 votes in which Poland voted differently from the USSR up to 1989, 32 were about financing the UN forces in the Middle East.
What kind of independence
A yes where Moscow abstained#
The strictest test is the vote in which the USSR and the other allies vote one way and a single state votes another. Up to 1989 Romania was that state 423 times. For the other five, counted leaving Romania aside, the numbers are: Poland 55, Hungary 19, Bulgaria 8, Czechoslovakia 5, East Germany 1. In 44 of Poland's 55 votes Romania, too, voted differently from the USSR.
The 423 votes in which Romania voted differently from the whole bloc
In almost half of these votes Romania voted yes where Moscow abstained. A Romanian yes against a Soviet no occurs 100 times. The reverse, a Romanian no against a Soviet yes, only four times in 34 years.
What they were about
Two subjects account for 67% of the votes: disarmament and the UN budget. The budget makes up only 9% of all recorded votes in the period, but 31% of the votes in which Romania parted from the bloc. On decolonisation, where the Assembly took 315 recorded votes, Romania never voted differently from the whole bloc.
The same scene repeated each autumn. On resolutions about nuclear-free zones, an end to testing or cuts in military budgets, the USSR abstained or voted no and Romania voted yes, with the Assembly's majority. On the organisation's budget the USSR voted no and Romania abstained or voted yes.
1975–1989
Romania does not vote: Cambodia, Afghanistan and the resolution on Zionism#
On several of the questions that split the Assembly into camps, Romania voted neither with Moscow nor against it: it did not vote at all.
On 10 November 1975 the Assembly adopted resolution 3379 (XXX), which called Zionism a form of racism. The USSR, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary and Poland voted yes. Romania appears in none of the lists. It had voted on the two resolutions just before, in the same meeting, and it is missing from the two recorded votes that followed as well. The record gives no explanation. The resolution was revoked on 16 December 1991, with the votes of Romania and the USSR.
After Viet Nam's intervention in Cambodia in December 1978, the Assembly had to decide, in September 1979, who represented the country: the delegation of Democratic Kampuchea, the government of Pol Pot, or the one sent by the People's Revolutionary Council led by Heng Samrin. An Indian proposal asked that the seat be left empty. Romania voted against giving that proposal priority and then for accepting the delegation of Democratic Kampuchea, as did China and the United States. The USSR and the other five allies voted the other way. In October 1982, on another challenge to the seat, Romania again voted as China and the United States did, and the USSR and the other five the other way (A/37/PV.43, paragraph 222); on the challenges of 1980 and 1981 the database shows it not voting.
In November 1979, on the resolution calling for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Cambodia, Romania took no part in the vote. After the vote its delegate, Mr. Marinescu, told the Assembly that Romania had sought a compromise text and, none having been reached, felt it should not take part in the vote on any draft (A/34/PV.67, paragraph 219).
On 14 January 1980 the Assembly called for the immediate, unconditional and total withdrawal of the foreign troops from Afghanistan. The USSR and the five allies voted no. Romania took no part.
“Inasmuch as such a solution has not been agreed to, Romania has decided not to participate in the vote on the draft resolution contained in document A/ES-6/L.1 and Add.1.”
In November 1980, on the second resolution, he spoke of an end to all foreign support for the anti-government forces and of the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan (A/35/PV.70, paragraph 150).
So it stayed until 1989. On all 20 resolutions about the situation in Cambodia and the situation in Afghanistan, the USSR voted no and Romania did not vote. On the three resolutions about human rights in Afghanistan, voted between 1985 and 1987, Romania voted no, as did the USSR and the other five allies.
In all, Romania did not vote 170 times while the USSR and every ally present voted alike; 94 of those votes were on questions taken directly in plenary. “Did not vote” also covers ordinary absence from the hall, which only the verbatim record can tell apart from an announced refusal to take part.
1971–1989
Whom Romania voted with when it did not vote with Moscow#
In the votes in which it parted from the whole bloc, Romania cast the same vote as Yugoslavia in 70% of cases, as the winning side in 71% and, from 1971, as China in 72%. It cast the same vote as the United States in 40%.
- USSR
- Yugoslavia
- China
- United States
Over all the votes of 1971–1989, agreement was 91% with Yugoslavia, 87% with China, 82% with the USSR and 19% with the United States. The year closest to Washington was 1977, at 40%. In 1981–1986 agreement with the United States fell to 12%.
When it voted differently from Moscow, then, Romania most often voted with the Assembly's majority and with non-aligned Yugoslavia. It stayed far from the Western vote.
The same years, read in Beijing's party newspaper: Romania in China's People's Daily. The year in which the Chinese paper wrote most about Romania, 1978, is also the year in which Romania least often voted like the USSR.
1987–1989
1987–1989: the difference all but disappears, mostly because Moscow changes its vote#
In 1986 Romania and the USSR cast the same vote in 93% of votes. In 1987, in 99%. After two decades the two countries again vote almost alike.
- Romania
- USSR
It was mostly Moscow that moved. In 1982–1986 the USSR voted yes in 80% of the votes it took part in; in 1987–1989, in 97%. Romania voted yes in 92% and rose to 98%. Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and East Germany followed the USSR almost vote for vote.
The votes do not say why. They show only that, in the last three years of Ceaușescu's rule, the USSR came to vote as Romania had voted for a decade: yes, with the Assembly's majority.
In those same years Romania twice came onto the list of states without a vote. The UN Charter takes it from states whose arrears equal or exceed their contributions for two full years. On 29 February 1988 a letter from the Secretary-General listed 12 states in that position; Romania was among them, with 1,328,600 dollars to pay to come off the list. The payment was reported in August. In February 1989 Romania was back on the list, with 1,417,000 dollars, and the payment was reported in September. In the database Romania is marked as having no vote in six recorded votes, between 2 March and 13 May 1988 and on 20 April 1989; in the verbatim records of 2 March 1988 and 20 April 1989 it is missing from the voting lists.
On 22 December 1989, the day Ceaușescu fled Bucharest, Romania's delegation in New York voted for six economic resolutions, as did the USSR. On 28 December the Assembly adopted, without a vote, a resolution on emergency humanitarian aid for Romania. The next day, on the resolution deploring the American intervention in Panama, Romania once more voted yes alongside the USSR.
1990–2007
1990: within a single year, a different vote#
In 1989 Romania had cast the same vote as the USSR in 98% of votes. In 1990, in 60%. This time it was Romania that moved: it had voted yes in 99% of votes in 1989 and did so in 56% in 1990, while the USSR was still at 94%.
Bulgaria and Poland made the same move in the same year: their agreement with the USSR fell to 62% and 51%. Hungary, already down to 87% in 1989, fell to 58%.
The new point of reference appears at once. In 1990 Romania cast the same vote as the majority of European Community members in 70% of votes; in 1991, in 91%; in 1993, in 97%.
That is why the accessions change nothing visible in the votes. Romania cast the same vote as the majority of EU members in 97% of votes in 2003 and 97% in 2005, before and after it joined NATO on 29 March 2004; in 98% in 2006 and 96% in 2008, before and after it joined the European Union on 1 January 2007.
2000–2025
Since 2000: when the Union votes as one, Romania votes with it#
The members of the European Union do not always vote alike. When they do, Romania is almost always with them. From 2000 to September 2025, all the other member states that voted cast the same vote in 2,330 recorded votes. Romania voted differently in two of them, both about the Middle East, in 2002 and in 2018.
- EU majority
- Russia
- United States
- China
Agreement with Russia fell, unevenly, from 63% in 2010 to 40% in 2021, then to 32% in 2022 and 24% in 2024. On 2 March 2022, on the resolution deploring Russia's aggression against Ukraine, Romania voted yes, Russia no, and China abstained: 141 to 5.
The first nine months of 2025 bring a change from Washington. In the 46 recorded votes of 2025 that could be read, the United States voted no 39 times. Romania's vote was the same as the United States' in 10 of 44 and the same as Russia's in 21 of 46. Missing from the count are the votes of February 2025 on Ukraine, a resolution of June on the Middle East and the votes of the autumn: their verbatim records could not be obtained from the UN's document system on 4 October 2026.
The skyline at the top of the page can be opened at any year, for any of the six states and against any of the five countries of comparison. Your year of birth is a good place to start.
How it was counted#
What was counted. The recorded votes in the General Assembly connected with resolutions, from 15 December 1955 to 19 September 2025: votes on whole texts, separate votes on paragraphs, votes on amendments and on procedural motions. There are 7,607. Most of the Assembly's resolutions are adopted without a vote and are not in the count.
How agreement was measured. A vote counts when both countries voted yes, no or abstained. Agreement is the share of identical votes. An abstention is a vote of its own: a yes beside an abstention is a different vote.
| How it is counted | Romania's year of lowest agreement | Votes different from Moscow's: Romania | The next ally |
|---|---|---|---|
| All recorded votes; an abstention is a vote of its own | 1978: 67% | 490 | Poland: 71 |
| Abstention counted as halfway between yes and no | 1978: 79% | 490 | Poland: 71 |
| Only votes in which both voted yes or no | 1979: 87% | 115 | Poland: 10 |
| “Did not vote” counted as a difference | 1978: 62% | 664 | Poland: 87 |
| Only votes on whole texts | 1978: 69% | 385 | Poland: 57 |
| Without the votes on budget and administration | 1972: 75% | 321 | Hungary: 37 |
| Votes as cast in the hall, before later corrections | 1978: 67% | 490 | Poland: 75 |
| The same count on Erik Voeten's file | 1978: 66% | 438 | Poland: 68 |
Where the votes come from. For 1955 to 1 September 2023, from the UNGA-DM Database of the University of Geneva (7,076 votes). For September 2023 to September 2025, straight from the verbatim records of the meetings (531 votes); for that period the meetings read are those in which at least one resolution was adopted by recorded vote, so votes on drafts rejected in other meetings may be missing. Of the votes read, two were set aside because the printed lists did not match the announced result: an amendment and the adoption of resolution 78/305, both on 28 June 2024. The records from October 2025 onwards could not be obtained from the UN's document system on 4 October 2026, and neither could those for five resolutions of the emergency special sessions: three on the Middle East (two from December 2024, one from June 2025) and two on Ukraine (24 February 2025).
What was checked. In 4,922 of the 4,975 votes on whole texts that could be matched by resolution symbol to a row with a result in the tables, the total in the database is the one announced in the hall, as printed by the UN's Dag Hammarskjöld Library. The same yearly series, rebuilt on Erik Voeten's independent file, gives the low in the same year, 66% in 1978; on votes on whole texts the two series are never more than 5.4 points apart in any year up to 2022. The thirteen votes listed below were read in the verbatim records, as were those of 4 November 1956, 18 February 1965, 20 November 1980, 25 October 1982 and December 1989.
Subjects and titles. The subject of each vote is the committee that reported the draft, as given in the Dag Hammarskjöld Library's resolutions tables: the First Committee for disarmament and security, the Fifth for the budget, and so on. The title of a vote on part of a text, on an amendment or on a motion is that of the resolution the database attaches it to. The date is the database's; for about 120 votes it differs by a day or two from the date in the library's tables.
Where the measure stops. General Assembly resolutions are recommendations. A vote shows a position taken in public; its motive is not in the vote. “Did not vote” includes absence from the hall. Since 1992 the USSR's seat has been held by Russia. East Germany voted from 1973 to 1989. China here means the government in Beijing, from November 1971. Yugoslavia appears until 1991. A vote “apart from the whole bloc” is counted only when at least three of the other allies voted and all of them voted as the USSR did; for the other five allies Romania is left aside. The years 2024 and 2025 are incomplete, so their percentages are shares of the votes counted.
Who else has measured this. Romania's UN votes were studied by Robert Weiner in “Romanian Foreign Policy and the United Nations” (Praeger, 1984). The Romania–Russia series, computed from Voeten's file, also exists on other public pages. Added here: the other five allies as the term of comparison, the kind and the subjects of the different votes, and the link from every vote to the UN document.
The votes named in the text, and the yearly series#
The votes named in the text
- 27 November 1963 · A/RES/1911(XVIII)
A Latin America free of nuclear weapons
The first vote in which Romania votes differently from the whole bloc: yes, while the USSR, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland abstain.
Romania: yesUSSR: abstained In favour: 91 · Against: 0 · Abstaining: 15
Text of the resolution, at the UN · Verbatim record A/PV.1265, page 6
- 4 July 1967 · draft A/L.519, not adopted
The Soviet draft on the Middle East: the preamble
The first of the five votes on parts. Romania abstains on four and votes yes on the paragraph about the withdrawal of Israeli forces. Draft A/L.519 is not available in the UN's document system; its content is taken here from the Soviet draft read from the rostrum by the Soviet prime minister, Mr. Kosygin (A/PV.1526, paragraph 82).
Romania: abstainedUSSR: yes In favour: 36 · Against: 57 · Abstaining: 24
- 4 July 1967 · draft A/L.521, not adopted
Albania's draft on the Middle East
It condemned the United States and the United Kingdom. Romania abstains, the USSR votes yes; the draft falls by 22 to 71.
Romania: abstainedUSSR: yes In favour: 22 · Against: 71 · Abstaining: 27
- 20 December 1968 · A/RES/2456 A (XXIII)
The conference of non-nuclear-weapon states
The first yes against no between Romania and the USSR. The result announced in the hall was 103 to 7, with 5 abstentions; two later corrections make it 103–7–6.
Romania: yesUSSR: no In favour: 103 · Against: 7 · Abstaining: 6
Text of the resolution, at the UN · Verbatim record A/PV.1750, page 7
- 25 October 1971 · A/RES/2758(XXVI)
China's seat at the UN
Romania is one of the states that submitted the draft. The delegation of the Republic of China had announced before the vote that it would take no further part in the proceedings.
Romania: yesUSSR: yes In favour: 76 · Against: 35 · Abstaining: 17
Text of the resolution, at the UN · Verbatim record A/PV.1976, page 41
- 7 December 1971 · A/RES/2793(XXVI)
A cease-fire between India and Pakistan
Romania votes yes with China and the United States; the USSR and the other four allies vote no.
Romania: yesUSSR: no In favour: 104 · Against: 11 · Abstaining: 10
Text of the resolution, at the UN · Verbatim record A/PV.2003, page 44
- 22 December 1971 · A/RES/2899 A (XXVI)
The UN budget for 1972
The USSR, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland vote no. Romania abstains.
Romania: abstainedUSSR: no In favour: 106 · Against: 9 · Abstaining: 7
Text of the resolution, at the UN · Verbatim record A/PV.2031, page 9
- 10 November 1975 · A/RES/3379(XXX)
The resolution calling Zionism a form of racism
Romania appears in none of the lists. It had voted on the two resolutions just before, in the same meeting; it is missing from the earlier vote on deferring the draft and from the two recorded votes that followed.
Romania: did not voteUSSR: yes In favour: 72 · Against: 35 · Abstaining: 32
Text of the resolution, at the UN · Verbatim record A/PV.2400, page 794
- 21 September 1979 · A/RES/34/2 A
Who represents Cambodia
The Assembly accepts the delegation of Democratic Kampuchea. Romania votes yes with China and the United States; the USSR and the other five allies vote no.
Romania: yesUSSR: no In favour: 71 · Against: 35 · Abstaining: 34
Text of the resolution, at the UN · Verbatim record A/34/PV.4, page 57
- 14 November 1979 · A/RES/34/22
The situation in Kampuchea
The resolution calls for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Cambodia. After the vote Romania tells the Assembly that it did not take part.
Romania: did not voteUSSR: no In favour: 91 · Against: 21 · Abstaining: 29
Text of the resolution, at the UN · Verbatim record A/34/PV.67, page 1287
- 14 January 1980 · A/RES/ES-6/2
The situation in Afghanistan
The resolution calls for the immediate, unconditional and total withdrawal of the foreign troops. After the vote Romania tells the Assembly that it did not take part. The result announced was 104–18–18; a later correction makes it 105–18–17.
Romania: did not voteUSSR: no In favour: 105 · Against: 18 · Abstaining: 17
Text of the resolution, at the UN · Verbatim record A/ES-6/PV.7, page 111
- 29 December 1989 · A/RES/44/240
The United States intervention in Panama
The last recorded vote of 1989. Romania votes yes with the USSR; Poland abstains.
Romania: yesUSSR: yes In favour: 75 · Against: 20 · Abstaining: 40
Text of the resolution, at the UN · Verbatim record A/44/PV.88, page 43
- 2 March 2022 · A/RES/ES-11/1
Aggression against Ukraine
Romania votes yes, Russia no, China abstains.
Romania: yesRussia: no In favour: 141 · Against: 5 · Abstaining: 35
Text of the resolution, at the UN · Verbatim record A/ES-11/PV.5, page 14
The yearly series
| Year | Recorded votes | Romania–USSR/Russia | Bulgaria–USSR/Russia | Romania–China | Romania–United States | Romania: yes | USSR/Russia: yes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1955 | 6 | 100% | – | – | 20% | 40% | 50% |
| 1956 | 44 | 95% | 100% | – | 23% | 36% | 39% |
| 1957 | 46 | 100% | 100% | – | 26% | 54% | 54% |
| 1958 | 30 | 100% | 100% | – | 33% | 57% | 57% |
| 1959 | 51 | 100% | 100% | – | 14% | 71% | 71% |
| 1960 | 41 | 100% | 100% | – | 17% | 63% | 63% |
| 1961 | 99 | 98% | 100% | – | 22% | 49% | 51% |
| 1962 | 61 | 100% | 100% | – | 18% | 57% | 57% |
| 1963 | 32 | 97% | 100% | – | 19% | 53% | 50% |
| 1965 | 41 | 95% | 100% | – | 24% | 73% | 73% |
| 1966 | 50 | 98% | 100% | – | 18% | 76% | 72% |
| 1967 | 54 | 80% | 100% | – | 20% | 72% | 80% |
| 1968 | 53 | 87% | 94% | – | 15% | 74% | 66% |
| 1969 | 42 | 86% | 95% | – | 24% | 71% | 64% |
| 1970 | 63 | 83% | 100% | – | 17% | 70% | 59% |
| 1971 | 120 | 84% | 99% | 88% | 36% | 72% | 62% |
| 1972 | 104 | 72% | 99% | 86% | 33% | 81% | 63% |
| 1973 | 90 | 74% | 99% | 85% | 34% | 78% | 67% |
| 1974 | 75 | 77% | 100% | 84% | 32% | 78% | 69% |
| 1975 | 91 | 77% | 100% | 79% | 19% | 86% | 66% |
| 1976 | 95 | 81% | 100% | 85% | 19% | 88% | 75% |
| 1977 | 102 | 75% | 100% | 90% | 40% | 90% | 70% |
| 1978 | 121 | 67% | 99% | 91% | 36% | 88% | 60% |
| 1979 | 183 | 69% | 100% | 90% | 26% | 87% | 67% |
| 1980 | 115 | 75% | 100% | 90% | 17% | 87% | 70% |
| 1981 | 168 | 84% | 99% | 89% | 9% | 90% | 80% |
| 1982 | 205 | 76% | 100% | 88% | 14% | 90% | 74% |
| 1983 | 179 | 80% | 100% | 84% | 14% | 92% | 78% |
| 1984 | 187 | 81% | 100% | 85% | 7% | 94% | 76% |
| 1985 | 198 | 86% | 100% | 79% | 12% | 90% | 84% |
| 1986 | 198 | 93% | 100% | 83% | 12% | 92% | 88% |
| 1987 | 166 | 99% | 99% | 90% | 11% | 97% | 96% |
| 1988 | 167 | 98% | 99% | 93% | 8% | 99% | 98% |
| 1989 | 142 | 98% | 99% | 94% | 9% | 99% | 96% |
| 1990 | 99 | 60% | 62% | 56% | 19% | 56% | 94% |
| 1991 | 86 | 54% | 56% | 44% | 43% | 49% | 57% |
| 1992 | 85 | 69% | 71% | 47% | 36% | 54% | 51% |
| 1993 | 76 | 75% | 72% | 38% | 42% | 54% | 51% |
| 1994 | 90 | 63% | 65% | 48% | 45% | 62% | 57% |
| 1995 | 94 | 73% | 71% | 40% | 54% | 59% | 53% |
| 1996 | 93 | 67% | 68% | 51% | 52% | 61% | 68% |
| 1997 | 91 | 69% | 66% | 48% | 52% | 61% | 64% |
| 1998 | 83 | 72% | 71% | 52% | 50% | 67% | 67% |
| 1999 | 99 | 64% | 65% | 44% | 52% | 63% | 68% |
| 2000 | 84 | 66% | 69% | 54% | 42% | 70% | 76% |
| 2001 | 89 | 65% | 64% | 52% | 41% | 66% | 74% |
| 2002 | 133 | 52% | 53% | 43% | 31% | 62% | 73% |
| 2003 | 95 | 69% | 66% | 56% | 34% | 67% | 75% |
| 2004 | 92 | 66% | 65% | 55% | 35% | 69% | 73% |
| 2005 | 100 | 66% | 63% | 55% | 35% | 70% | 70% |
| 2006 | 109 | 60% | 60% | 58% | 31% | 67% | 76% |
| 2007 | 96 | 67% | 66% | 60% | 28% | 65% | 75% |
| 2008 | 100 | 57% | 57% | 56% | 34% | 66% | 70% |
| 2009 | 88 | 63% | 64% | 59% | 50% | 65% | 76% |
| 2010 | 93 | 63% | 63% | 57% | 48% | 67% | 74% |
| 2011 | 101 | 66% | 67% | 58% | 58% | 68% | 76% |
| 2012 | 94 | 52% | 50% | 52% | 49% | 67% | 64% |
| 2013 | 94 | 56% | 57% | 59% | 55% | 69% | 68% |
| 2014 | 101 | 56% | 56% | 59% | 49% | 69% | 66% |
| 2015 | 95 | 53% | 53% | 49% | 51% | 57% | 62% |
| 2016 | 122 | 50% | 50% | 51% | 64% | 65% | 56% |
| 2017 | 128 | 56% | 55% | 53% | 50% | 57% | 61% |
| 2018 | 194 | 48% | 46% | 51% | 38% | 61% | 52% |
| 2019 | 176 | 46% | 44% | 50% | 43% | 59% | 53% |
| 2020 | 183 | 49% | 46% | 48% | 54% | 63% | 52% |
| 2021 | 173 | 40% | 39% | 41% | 69% | 58% | 52% |
| 2022 | 195 | 32% | 31% | 38% | 76% | 61% | 51% |
| 2023 | 228 | 27% | 26% | 31% | 76% | 64% | 39% |
| 2024 | 283 | 24% | 24% | 41% | 75% | 63% | 36% |
| 2025 | 46 | 46% | 46% | 50% | 23% | 74% | 70% |
Sources#
- Joshua Fjelstul, Simon Hug and Christopher Kilby, the UNGA-DM Database (University of Geneva), extract “all recorded votes by member states”, downloaded 4 October 2026: recorded votes from 1946 to 1 September 2023. Described in “Decision-making in the United Nations General Assembly: A comprehensive database of resolution-related decisions”, The Review of International Organizations, 2025. unvotes.unige.ch
- The article describing the UNGA-DM Database (open access). doi.org/10.1007/s11558-024-09580-1
- Erik Voeten, Anton Strezhnev and Michael Bailey, “United Nations General Assembly Voting Data”, Harvard Dataverse, version 33 (24 June 2024), CC0 1.0 licence: used as the independent check. See also Erik Voeten, “Data and Analyses of Voting in the UN General Assembly”, in the Routledge Handbook of International Organization, 2013. doi.org/10.7910/DVN/LEJUQZ
- United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld Library, General Assembly resolutions tables by session: the committee that reported each draft, the meeting, the announced result and the title. research.un.org/en/docs/ga/quick
- The United Nations Official Document System: verbatim records of plenary meetings (documents A/…/PV), the texts of the resolutions, and the Secretary-General's letters A/42/925 and A/43/995 on member states in arrears. documents.un.org
- The Royal Household, inward state visits since 1952: President Nicolae Ceaușescu, 13–16 June 1978. www.royal.uk/sites/default/files/media/inward_state_visits_since_1952_2.pdf
- George Costiță, “20-21 august 1968: invazia sovietică din Cehoslovacia”, Radio Free Europe's Romanian service, 20 August 2024: the speech from the Central Committee balcony on 21 August 1968; Romania took no part in the invasion. romania.europalibera.org/a/invazia-sovietica-din-cehoslovacia-20-21-august-1968/33084093.html
- Dag Hammarskjöld Library, “What happened during the 19th session of the General Assembly?”: the 1964–1965 session voted on no resolution. The procedural roll call of 18 February 1965 is in the verbatim record A/PV.1330. ask.un.org/faq/268504
- United Nations, “United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia: Background”: the intervention in Cambodia by Viet Nam in December 1978. The names of the two delegations that claimed the seat are those in the verbatim record A/34/PV.4. peacekeeping.un.org/sites/default/files/past/untacbackgr1.html
- NATO, “NATO member countries”: Romania became a member on 29 March 2004. www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_52044.htm
- European Union, Romania's country page: member state since 1 January 2007. european-union.europa.eu/principles-countries-history/eu-countries/romania_en
- Romania in China's People's Daily: eighty years of Romania–China relationsThe same years, counted in the articles of Beijing's party newspaper.