India-Russia Relation / India maintained its friendship and kept itself away from voting on the resolution against Russia in the UN

India-Russia Relation: India has once again shown its friendship by supporting Russia in the United Nations. India abstained from voting on the draft resolution in the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, which demanded Russia to immediately stop aggression against Ukraine and immediately withdraw Russian troops and other unauthorized employees from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. In the 193-member United Nations General Assembly, 99 countries voted in favor of the said draft resolution. While nine countries including Belarus, Cuba, North Korea, Russia and Syria voted against it.

60 countries including India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Egypt, Nepal, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Sri Lanka abstained from voting on this proposal. The draft resolution titled "Defense and Security of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant and other nuclear installations" demands Russia to "immediately stop aggression against Ukraine and unconditionally withdraw all its military forces from Ukrainian territory within internationally recognized borders." The resolution also said that Russia should immediately withdraw its troops and other unauthorized employees from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and immediately return its control to the full control of the sovereign and competent authorities of Ukraine to ensure the defense and security of the plant.

Call to stop attacks on Ukraine's energy installations

The resolution called on Russia to "immediately stop attacks" on Ukraine's important energy installations, as these attacks could lead to a major nuclear accident. This draft resolution was presented by Ukraine. More than 50 countries, including France, Germany and the US, sponsored it. The resolution demanded that until Russia withdraws from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and completely hands over its control to the sovereign and competent authorities of Ukraine, it should provide full access to the 'Support and Assistance Mission' of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to various parts of the plant from time to time, so that it can gather complete information about the security situation there.

Russia said the proposal is politically motivated

In an explanation of the voting before the vote on the proposal, Russia's first deputy permanent representative Dmitry Polansky said that the General Assembly has "unfortunately" adopted several documents that are politically motivated, do not reflect reality and on which there was no consensus. Polansky said, "Make no mistake: the vote in favor of today's draft will be taken as evidence of support for the policy of Kiev, Washington, Brussels and London to further escalate the conflict in Ukraine, which will prove to be detrimental to the steps taken by a sensible camp of the international community for a peaceful, sustainable and long-term solution to the conflict."