'Escalation of Tensions in No One’s Interest': India Refuses to Side With West Against Russia

From 23 to 27 September, the republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, and the Russian-controlled parts of the Ukrainian regions of Zaporozhye and Kherson held referendums on joining Russia. On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his full support for incorporating the four districts into Russian and signed a decree to that effect.

India abstained from voting on a draft resolution tabled by the US and Albania at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) condemning the annexation of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), and the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions into Russia, saying that the “escalation of tensions is in no one’s interest”.

China, Brazil and Gabon were other countries which abstained from voting on the resolution tabled on Friday.

The resolution failed to pass, despite 10 out of 15 nations voting in favor of it as Russia used a veto to block it. However, according to media reports, a similar resolution is likely to be introduced in the UN General Assembly in the near future and Russia doesn’t have a veto there.

Addressing the council after the vote, India's Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj said that India is deeply disturbed by the recent developments in Ukraine, and that New Delhi has always held that no solution can ever be arrive at at the cost of human lives.

Emphasizing that India’s position has been clear and consistent from the very beginning of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, Kamboj said: “Global order is anchored on the principles of the UN Charter, international law and respect for sovereignty and the territorial integrity of all states.”

“Escalation of rhetoric or tensions is in no one’s interest. It is important that a way found for a return to the negotiating table. Keeping in view the totality of the evolving situation, India has decided to abstain on this resolution,” she concluded.

Speaking before the vote, Russia's Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia said that the results of the referendum speak for themselves and that the residents of these regions do not want to return to Ukraine.

"They have made an informed and free choice in favor of our country. The referendums were carried out in full conformity with the norms and principles of international law,” he said, adding that more than 100 international observers from Italy, Germany, Venezuela, Latvia, and other states, who monitored the voting, also recognized the results to be legitimate.

This is not the first time India has abstained from voting in UNSC. It has twice abstained from voting in UNSC and once in the General Assembly on resolutions concerning Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine.