India, China abstain as Russia vetoes UN resolution on Ukraine annexation

India abstained from voting on a UN Security Council resolution that would have declared Russia's annexation of four Ukrainian territories as invalid.

The resolution tabled by the US and Albania, which would have condemned Moscow's "illegal referenda," failed to get adopted on Friday as permanent UNSC member Russia vetoed it, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

It was supported by 10 of the 15 members of the Council, while China, Gabon and Brazil also abstained.

India cited the "totality of the evolving situation" as the reason for its abstention from voting.

While abstaining on the resolution, India called for an immediate cessation of violence in Ukraine and stressed the need for a return to the negotiating table.

The draft resolution had declared that Russia's "unlawful actions" with regards to the "illegal so-called referenda" taken between September 23 and 27 this year in parts of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhya which are under Russia's temporary control can have "no validity" and cannot form the basis for any alteration of the status of these regions of Ukraine, including any "purported annexation" of any of these regions by Moscow.

India had on multiple occasions in the past abstained from voting against Russia on the Ukraine issue.

The only time India had voted against Russia was on August 24 this year during a "procedural vote" at the Security Council on Ukraine when the Council invited Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to address a meeting through a video tele-conference.