Bangladesh, India, 71 other nations abstain from UN vote seeking Russian reparations to Ukraine
Bangladesh has abstained from voting in the UN General Assembly on a draft resolution calling for Russia to be held accountable for violating international law by invading Ukraine and forcing Moscow to pay reparations to Kyiv for damages, loss and injury resulting from the war.
Ukraine adopted a draft resolution titled, 'Furtherance of remedy and reparation for aggression against Ukraine', on Monday (14 November).
In the 193-member UN General Assembly, 94 voted in favour and 14 against the resolution. The remaining 73 nations abstained including Bangladesh, India, Bhutan, Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia, Israel, Nepal, Pakistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka, reports NDTV.
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Belarus, China, Cuba, North Korea, Iran, Russia and Syria voted against the resolution.
Earlier, Bangladesh voted in favour of the UN resolution "Territorial Integrity of Ukraine: Defending the Principles of the UN Charter" at the 11th emergency special session of the UNGA on the Russia-Ukraine war on 13 October.
The country also abstained from voting on the resolution demanding "immediate, complete and unconditional" withdrawal - was adopted on 2 March at a rare emergency session of the UN General Assembly.
The resolution, co-sponsored by nearly 50 nations, recognised that Russia "must be held to account for any violations of international law in or against Ukraine, including its aggression in violation of the Charter of the United Nations, as well as any violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, and that it 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."
It recommended that UN Member States, in cooperation with Ukraine, create an international register of damage to serve as a record, in documentary form, of evidence and claims information on damage, loss or injury to all natural and legal persons concerned, as well as the State of Ukraine, caused by internationally wrongful acts of the Russian Federation in or against Ukraine.
Ukraine's UN Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya said "today, Russia, who claims to be the successor of the 20th century's tyranny, is doing everything it can to avoid paying the price for its own war and occupation, trying to escape accountability for the crimes it is committing."
"Russia will fail, just like it is failing on the battlefield. We have indeed seen all this before. There's nothing new under the sun," he said.
The Ukrainian Ambassador said Russia has demolished almost half of Ukraine's power grid and utilities in the past month alone, leaving millions of Ukrainians without power, running water and heating on the eve of winter.
"Millions of Ukrainians have been forced to leave their homes and seek shelter elsewhere. Ukraine will have the daunting task of rebuilding the country and recovering from this war. But that recovery will never be complete without a sense of justice for the victims of the Russian war. It is time to hold Russia accountable," he added.
Russia's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said if the resolution comes to be adopted, "it will entail systemic consequences for the UN activities."
"It is obvious that the initiative is flawed. From the legal perspective, the provisions of the draft cannot stand up to any criticism. They are legally void - nothing more than an attempt to legalize what cannot be legalized in terms of effective international law," he added.
The co-sponsors must realize that adoption of such a resolution would trigger consequences that may boomerang against themselves," the Russian envoy said.
