Russia-Ukraine war: As India abstains from UN vote, envoy quotes PM Modi

India on Thursday reiterated its position in the Russia-Ukraine war and said that dialogue and diplomacy are the only viable way out.

Abstaining from voting in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) which approved a nonbinding resolution that calls for Russia to end hostilities in Ukraine and withdraw its forces, India’s permanent representative to the UN Ruchira Kamboj quoted Prime Minister Narendra Modi advocating that “no solution can ever arrive at the cost of human lives”.

In a “historic voting” at the UNGA, 141 voted in favour of the resolution, 32 abstained, including China and India and seven voted against it. The assembly demanded Moscow to withdraw from Kyiv “immediately”, with an appeal for the need to reach comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine.

The 193-member General Assembly adopted the draft resolution, put forward by Ukraine and its supporters, titled ‘Principles of the Charter of the United Nations underlying a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine’.

“India remains steadfastly committed to multilateralism and upholds the principles of the UN Charter. We will always call for dialogue and diplomacy as the only viable way out. While we take note of the stated objective of today’s Resolution, given its inherent limitations in reaching our desired goal of securing a lasting peace, we are constrained to abstain,” Kamboj said.

Quoting Modi’s statement, she said, “We have consistently advocated that no solution can ever arrive at the cost of human lives. In this context, our Prime Minister’s statement that this cannot be an era of war bears reiteration. Escalation of hostilities and violence is in no one’s interest, instead, an urgent return to the path of dialogue and diplomacy is the way forward.”

Kamboj added that international principles and jurisprudence vest responsibility on parties to the conflict to ensure that civilians and civilian infrastructure are not targeted in situations of armed conflicts.

She said India’s approach to the Ukraine conflict would continue to be people-centric. India is providing both humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and economic support to some of the neighbours in the Global South under economic distress, even as they stare at the escalating costs of food, fuel, and fertilizers.

The head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s presidential office, Andriy Yermak, spoke on Tuesday about the UN resolution with India’s national security adviser because “Ukraine is interested in the broadest possible support for the resolution, in particular from the countries of the global south”, a statement from Zelensky’s office said.

India had a Cold War dependence on the Soviet Union and has abstained several times from voting on UN Security Council resolutions demanding that Russia cease its invasion.