India Votes Against Russia In United Nations General Assembly

United Nation: India, along with more than 100 other nations, voted in favour of a ‘public vote’ on the draft resolution, rejecting Russia’s proposal for a ‘secret ballot’ in the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on a draft resolution to condemn Moscow’s “illegal” annexation of four regions of Ukraine.

However, their desire for a secret ballot was turned down as 107 UN members, including India, voted in favour of a recorded vote. Only 13 nations voted in favour of Russia’s call for a secret ballot, and 39 others abstained. Russia and China were two of the countries that stayed away.

On October 10, the 193-member UN General Assembly adopted a resolution put forth by Albania requesting a recorded vote on a draft resolution that condemned Russia’s “illegal so-called referendums” and “attempted illegal annexation” of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhya.

India was one of the 100 nations that abstained from the ‘recorded vote’ on Moscow’s appeal. After the motion to hold a recorded vote was accepted, Russia contested the general assembly president’s choice.

The decision to adopt the motion made by Albania for a recorded vote was then put up for reconsideration by Russia. The General Assembly finally decided not to reconsider the move despite the votes of 104 nations, including India, in favour, 16 against, and 34 abstentions.

Russian permanent representative Vassily Nebenzia asserted that the general assembly president, sadly, had a key role in an egregious fraud in which the UN membership had become a party.

“We were not given the floor to make a point of order (the indicator light at our seat is still on), our statement was distorted, and now UN member states are being robbed of their right to express their opinion freely,” Nebenzia said.

This unprecedented cozenage threatens the credibility of the general assembly and the United Nations as a whole. Given these facts, he continued, Russia made the decision to abstain from the vote.

Notably, India had decided to abstain from voting in September’s US and Albanian draft resolution denouncing Moscow’s “illegal referenda” and nullifying the annexation of four Ukrainian territories.