In UNGA, India votes to reject Russia's demand for secret ballot on draft resolution on Ukraine

Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi, October 11

India for the first time voted at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) against Russia’s demand for a secret ballot on a draft resolution to condemn its annexation of four regions of Ukraine.

India has voted against Russia on August 24 at the UN Security Council (UNSC) on the issue of inviting President Zelenskyy to speak virtually at a debate on Ukraine. The Foreign Office had then said “we have not voted against anyone,” terming the vote as procedural.

This time, too, the vote is procedural – on the question of whether the division at the end of a forthcoming debate in UNGA should be open or by secret ballot.

Albania has moved a motion seeking to condemn Russia’s “illegal so-called referendums” and “attempted illegal annexation” of Ukraine’s Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia regions.

With 107 countries at UNGA, including India, rejecting Russia’s demand for a secret ballot, Russia has appealed against the ruling by the chair and this year’s UNGA President Csaba Korosi.

Only 13 nations voted in favour of Russia’s call for a secret ballot and 39 abstained. Russia and China were among the countries that did not vote.

Russia then sought reconsideration of the decision to adopt the motion submitted by Albania for a recorded vote. The UNGA decided not to reconsider the motion after 104 nations, including India, voted against, 16 voted in favour and 34 abstained.

Russia’s Permanent Representative to the UN Vassily Nebenzia said Russia was not given the floor to make a point of order, its statement was distorted, and “now UN member states are being robbed of their right to express their opinion freely”.

“In such circumstances, we opted to not take part in the vote,” he added.

Last month, India had abstained from a UNSC draft resolution to condemn the referendum in Ukraine. In the 15-member UNSC, 10 voted for the resolution while China, Gabon, India and Brazil abstained. The resolution was not passed due to a Russian veto.

This led US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield to take the issue to UNGA where there is no veto. Subsequently, the US and some European nations met UNGA President Korosi to seek an emergency special session on Ukraine where a resolution against Russia would be introduced.

Monday’s UNGA vote came within hours of a massive Russian retaliation for the bombing of the Crimean Bridge. India has expressed deep concern over the escalation of the conflict, including the targeting of infrastructure and deaths of civilians. Pointing out that the escalation of the conflict was in no one’s interest, a MEA statement offered India’s support to efforts aimed at de-escalation of the situation.

However, India has not condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In the last six months, India has dispatched a dozen consignments of approximately 100 tones of humanitarian aid to Ukraine and neighbouring countries. It “symbolises India’s human centric development approach, a central tenet of our national beliefs and values, which perceives the whole world as one family,” India’s Permanent Representative to UN Ruchika Kamboj has said.