India abstained from a procedural vote taken in the UN Security Council to call for a rare special emergency session of the UN General Assembly on Russia's aggression against Ukraine, even as New Delhi welcomed Moscow and Kyiv's decision to hold talks at the Belarus border.
The resolution was adopted with 11 votes in favour, paving the way for the General Assembly to meet on the crisis. India, China and the UAE abstained, while Russia voted against the resolution. This will be only the 11th such emergency session of the General Assembly since 1950.
The 15-nation Security Council met on Sunday afternoon to hold the vote on the emergency special session of the 193-member General Assembly on Russia's invasion of Ukraine. This comes two days after the Russian veto blocked a UNSC resolution on its "aggression" against Ukraine.
The vote calling for the UNGA session was procedural so none of the five permanent members of the Security Council - China, France, Russia, the UK and the US - could exercise their vetoes. "It is regrettable that the situation in Ukraine has worsened further since the Council last convened on this matter," India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador TS Tirumurti said in the explanation of Sunday's vote.
Earlier, India joined China and the UAE in abstaining from a vote on a UNSC resolution that “deplored” the Russian aggression against Ukraine - in keeping with what official sources in New Delhi described as India’s consistent, steadfast and balanced position on the matter.
However, under pressure from its western partners to adopt a stronger language on Russia’s actions, the Centre in its explanation of vote called upon “all states” to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of countries and the UN Charter, while regretting that the path of diplomacy had been given up.
