United Nations: India has abstained on a Security Council resolution condemning Moscow’s annexation of parts of Ukraine while saying it was « deeply
United Nations: India has abstained on a Security Council resolution condemning Moscow’s annexation of parts of Ukraine while saying it was “deeply disturbed by the recent turn of developments” there.
The resolution, which sought to declare as illegal the referendum Moscow said it held in those areas to annex them, was vetoed by Permanent Member Russia, although it received 10 votes with four abstentions in the 15-member Council on Friday.
India’s abstention came a fortnight after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had emphatically spoken to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin against the invasion and External Affairs Minister told the General Assembly last week that New Delhi was on “the side that respects the UN Charter and its founding principles”.
While explaining the abstention, India’s Permanent Representative Ruchira Kamboj told the Council, “India is deeply disturbed by the recent turn of developments in Ukraine. We have always advocated that no solution can ever be arrived at the cost of human lives.”
“India’s Prime Minister has also emphasised that this cannot be an era of war,” she added highlighting his public statement to Putin in Samarkand in September, which has been welcomed by Washington and interpreted as a shift from India’s presumed neutrality.
This was at least the ninth time India had abstained on a substantive resolution on Ukraine at the UN.
US Permanent Representative Linda Thomas-Greenfield did not attach much weight to the abstentions by India, along with China, Brazil and Gabon.
Speaking to reporters outside the Council chamber after the vote, she said, “Their abstentions clearly were not a defence of Russia. They were not in support of Russia and they made clear their condemnation of Russia.
