India avoids UNSC resolution condemning Russia’s ‘annexation’ of parts of Ukraine
Underlining that “rhetoric or escalation of tensions is in no one’s interest” and that it is “important that avenues are found to return to the negotiating table”, India on Saturday said at a UN Security Council (UNSC) meeting. took part in the resolution, which condemned Moscow’s “illegal referendum” and declared its annexation of four Ukrainian territories invalid. Russia vetoed the UNSC resolution.
The UNSC could not accept the resolution because Russia – a permanent member of the UN Security Council – vetoed it. It received the support of 10 of the 15 council members, while China, Gabon, India and Brazil did not participate.
Contending to the Council after the vote, India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ruchira Kamboj told” India is deeply disturbed by the recent developments in Ukraine. We’ve consistently supported that nothing should at all be done at the cost of human lives. The result can not be set up.
Urging that “all efforts are being made by the parties concerned for an immediate cessation of violence and hostilities”, the Indian envoy said: “Dialogue is the only answer to settling differences and disputes, however challenging it may seem at the moment. We need to keep all channels of diplomacy open for the path to peace.”
She said that the Prime Minister of India “has clearly expressed this in his discussions with world leaders, including the Presidents of the Russian Federation and Ukraine; our Foreign Minister has done the same in her recent engagements at the General Assembly last week.”
Kamboj recalled Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s public remarks to Russian President Vladimir Putin in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, saying, “The Prime Minister of India has also emphasized that this is an era of war. Not possible.”
“Therefore, we sincerely look forward to an early resumption of peace talks to enable an immediate ceasefire and conflict resolution,” she said.
Describing India’s position as clear and consistent since the beginning of the conflict, Kamboj said that the global order rests on the principles of the United Nations Charter, international law and respect for the independence and territorial honesty of all states.
Rhetoric or escalation of tension is not in anyone’s interest. Avenues must be found to return to the negotiating table. Keeping in view the totality of the changing situation, India has decided to stay away from this proposal,” she said while explaining India’s vote.
The 15-nation UN Security Council on Friday voted in a grand ceremony in the Kremlin on a draft resolution introduced by Russian President Vladimir Putin on “illegal so-called referendums in Ukraine” by the United States and Albania. Ukrainian demesnes of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhya.
Earlier too, India had avoided votes in the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly on resolutions related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It has also not publicly condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine, although it has called for an independent investigation into the Buka massacre.
