Russia hails India for abstaining from voting on Ukraine at UN

United Nations, February 1

As India, Kenya, Gabon abstained and China voted against a procedural vote in the UN Security Council ahead of a meeting on the Ukraine situation, Vladimir Putin-led Russia thanked the four nations for being “brave” to “withstand US hand-twisting before the vote.”

“US diplomacy at its worst. Thanks to 4 our colleagues China, India, Gabon and Kenya who were brave to withstand US hand-twisting before the vote,” First Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy said in a tweet made in response to a tweet by the US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield. Thomas-Greenfield said, “Russia’s aggression not only threatens Ukraine and Europe, but the international order the @UN Security Council is charged” with upholding.”

The Security Council met on Monday to discuss the situation in Ukraine. Ahead of the meeting, Russia, a permanent and veto-wielding member, called for a procedural vote to determine whether the open meeting can go ahead. Russia and China voted against the meeting while India, Gabon and Kenya abstained. All other 10 Council members, including Norway, France, US, UK, France, Ireland, Brazil, Mexico voted in favour of the meeting going through. The Council needed only 9 yes votes for the meeting to go ahead. With 10 Council members voting in favour, the meeting on the situation on the Ukraine border went ahead.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has signed a decree to boost Ukraine’s armed forces by 1,00,000 troops over three years and raise soldiers’ pay. On a visit to Kyiv, Polish PM Mateusz Morawiecki said Warsaw would help Ukraine with gas and arms supplies, as well as humanitarian and economic aid. British PM reached Ukraine to meet Zelenskiy on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand said Canada was ready to join the West in imposing economic sanctions on Russia if Moscow sent troops into Ukraine, saying that the Kremlin had a choice to make between de-escalation and punitive measures.

A Russian diplomat has denied reports that Moscow sent Washington a written response to a US proposal aimed at de-escalating the Ukraine crisis. Kremlin is seeking legally binding guarantees that Ukraine will never join the bloc, deployment of NATO weapons near Russian borders will be halted and the alliance’s forces will be rolled back from Eastern Europe. — Agencies

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