UN adopts call for Russia to pay Ukraine war reparations; India abstains

India on Monday abstained from a UN resolution vote calling for Russia to be held accountable for the Ukraine invasion, including by paying compensation for damage, loss and injury during the war.

The resolution said Russia “must bear the legal consequences of all of its internationally wrongful acts, including making reparation for the injury, including any damage, caused by such acts.”

The resolution was supported by 94 of the 193 UN General Assembly members, with 14 against and 73 abstention.

Explaining the abstention, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ruchira Kamboj, stressed the need to objectively consider whether a reparation process through a vote in UNGA would contribute to efforts at a resolution of conflict. The diplomat also underlined that the legal validity of such a process by a UNGA resolution remains unclear.

“We must, therefore, not create mechanisms and set precedents without adequate international legal vetting that have implications for the future functioning of the United Nations and the international economic system,” Kamboj said.

“We need to avoid steps which preclude or put in danger the possibility of dialogue and negotiations and of bringing this conflict to an end,” she added.

Reiterating Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assertion to Russian President Vladimir Putin that “this is not an era of war”, Kamboj said, “with this firm resolve to strive for a peaceful solution through dialogue and diplomacy, India has decided to abstain on the resolution.”

Kamboj said India continues to remain concerned over the situation in Ukraine, reiterating its position that no solution can ever be arrived at the cost of human lives.

“Escalation of hostilities and violence is in no one’s interest. We have urged that all efforts be made for an immediate cessation of hostilities and an urgent return to the path of dialogue and diplomacy,” she said.

The resolution, co-sponsored by nearly 50 nations, recognized the need for establishment, in cooperation with Ukraine, of an international mechanism for reparation for damage, loss or injury, and arising from the “internationally wrongful acts of the Russian Federation in or against Ukraine.”

India has mostly abstained on resolutions related to the Russia-Ukraine war in the UN, including in the Security Council, General Assembly and the Human Rights Council.