The United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Ukraine and Georgia have blocked a Russia-drafted UN General Assembly resolution calling for solidarity and global sanctions relief in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, according to Russia’s permanent mission to the organization.

“We regret that a small group of states championing sanctions-based policy appeared unready to respond to the call of the UN Secretary-General and refused to cast aside politicized approaches and interests,” the Russian mission said, following the vote late on Thursday.

This step, the mission went on, indicates that “it will be much more difficult to give a global and solidarity response to the threat of the new pandemic,” which may affect many people, especially in developing countries.

The mission noted that Russia would continue coordination on the issue with like-minded countries and expressed hope that all the interested nations would join the call for cooperation in the face of the pandemic.

The vote in the UN General Assembly took place on Thursday. The same day, the number of people infected with the coronavirus globally surpassed 1 million, according to Johns Hopkins University. Of these, more than 53,000 have died.