[Watch] India Abstains In UN Vote Against Russia’s ‘Annexation’ Of Ukraine Regions

United Nations: India abstained on a draft resolution in the UN Security Council condemning Russia’s “illegal referenda” and annexation of four Ukrainian territories.

The resolution could not be adopted as Russia vetoed it. Of the 15-nation Security Council, 10 nations voted for the resolution while China, Gabon, India and Brazil abstained.

The draft resolution was tabled by the US and Albania condemning Russia’s “organisation of illegal so-called referenda in regions within Ukraine’s internationally recognised borders.”

The resolution declared that Russia’s “unlawful actions” with regards to the “illegal so-called referenda” taken on September 23 to 27 this year in parts of Ukraine’s regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhya that are under Russia’s temporary control can have “no validity” and cannot form the basis for any alteration of the status of these regions of Ukraine, including any “purported annexation” of any of these regions by Moscow.

India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj said that India was deeply disturbed by the recent turn of developments in Ukraine and New Delhi has always advocated that no solution can ever arrive at the cost of human lives.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday he has requested fast-tracking NATO membership after Russia annexed four Moscow-held regions of Ukraine.

“We have already proven our compatibility with (NATO) alliance standards,” Zelensky said in a video posted by the Ukrainian presidency on social media.

“We are taking a decisive step by signing Ukraine’s application for accelerated accession to NATO,” he added.

He said Kyiv would not negotiate with Russia till President Vladimir Putin was in power.