Number Of Times Russia Has Used It’s Veto Power To Support India In UNSC

Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution condemning Russia’s “aggression” against Ukraine, which was supported by the United States. Eleven nations supported the resolution, while India, China, and the United Arab Emirates abstained.

The resolution states that Russia must immediately halt its use of force against Ukraine and shall cease any other illegal threat of retaliation against any UN member state.

What is Veto Power, and which countries are eligible to exercise it?

If any of the permanent members of the UN Security Council vote a negative vote in a pending UNSC decision, the resolution will not be approved. This is called veto power and every country knows how to use it. It makes 5 permanent members as default superpowers, no matter what country’s image is in front of the whole world.

The permanent members of UN are Russia, China, the UK, France, and the US. The non-permanent members at present are India, Niger, Norway, The Grenadines, Estonia, Kenya, Ireland, Mexico, Saint Vincent,  Vietnam, and Tunisia.

While permanent members such as China, France and the United Kingdom used veto for their own purposes, the United States of America and Russia mostly used it for their country’s diplomacy.

Number of times countries have used the veto

Russia has used the veto the most frequently since 1992, followed by the United States and China. Russia had used its veto 118 times as of February 2022, compared to 82 times for the United States, 29 times for the United Kingdom, 16 times for France, and 17 times for China.

However, Russia’s high number of vetoes may be ascribed mostly to the period 1946-1969, when a majority of the Security Council was allied with the US, which cast no vetoes since it won every vote. During these years, the Soviet Union used 93% of all vetoes to prevent the Western majority from passing resolutions. But the fall of the Soviet Union, apart from vetoing for its own, Russia mostly uses vetoes for their friends and their allies. One of the allies is our country, India!

India and Russia have cultivated an extraordinary partnership for more than 50 years

Even today, when every liberal and democratic country has turned against Russia for their full-fledged invasion of Ukraine in the “special military operation” for “demilitarisation,” India has refused to vote against Russia despite pressure from the West.

India, on the other hand, did not vote in favour of Russia. However, in today’s highly polarised world, when every country is taking a stance, India’s choice to abstain from voting was interpreted as silent support and a middle path to balance India’s relationship with both sides.

The friendship relationship between India and Russia is the only bilateral relationship that is referred to as friendship. People in both countries have had strong sentiments for each other for more than five decades. Both countries still see each other as trusted allies. This is why, on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India in December 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said,

“Even a child in India, if asked to say who is India’s best friend, will reply it is Russia because Russia has been with India in times of crisis.”

But this friendship is not a one-way street, even Russians also adore us as their own. Apart from having cultural and geopolitical ties with each other, Russia always supported India’s stance at the UN.

How Russia supported India in the UN?

As an all-weathered friend, Russia has also utilised its veto power in favour of India throughout the years. In all, the permanent member of the UN Security Council has exercised its veto four times in favour of India. Moscow’s status as a key ally in South Asia has not weakened over the years.

It is no secret that throughout the Cold War, the former Soviet Union rejected multiple UNSC resolutions on Kashmir, preventing the internationalization of what is fundamentally a bilateral dispute. Soviet Union was the sole country to block proposals demanding UN action in Kashmir in the UN Security Council in 1957, 1962, and 1971.

In December 1961, Russia stood with India when it freed Goa and thrashed NATO member Portugal, causing many in the West to turn crimson.

Last but not least, in August 2019, Russia became one of the first countries to define India’s action on Kashmir (scrapping Article 370 and state bifurcation) as strictly an internal matter, calling for a settlement under the 1972 Shimla Agreement and the 1999 Lahore Declaration. Since then, the Russian Foreign Minister and other officials have reaffirmed their position.

On Friday, February 26, India abstained their vote on a UN Security Council resolution presented by the United States that condemned Russia’s actions against Ukraine in the harshest terms. New Delhi stated that conversation is the only way to resolve differences and issues, and expressed “regret” that diplomacy was abandoned.