United Nations: When the Dutch envoy stated India should not have abstained in the UN General Assembly on Ukraine, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador TS Tirumurti, urged him, “Kindly don’t patronise us,” and that New Delhi “knows what to do.”
Three days after Moscow recognised Ukraine’s breakaway regions – Donetsk and Luhansk – as independent entities, Russian soldiers commenced armed actions in Ukraine on February 24.
India has abstained on procedural votes and draught resolutions condemning Russian aggression against Ukraine in the UN Security Council, General Assembly, and Human Rights Council since January of this year.
“Kindly don’t patronise us, Ambassador. We know what to do,” Mr Tirumurti said in response to a tweet by Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Karel van Oosterom.
In the tweet, the Dutch envoy said to Mr Tirumurti “You should not have abstained in the GA. Respect the UN Charter.”
Mr Tirumurti delivered a statement at the UN Security Council meeting Wednesday on Ukraine. He posted the full text of his statement on Twitter saying “At the UN Security Council meeting on #Ukraine this afternoon, I made the following statement” to which van Oosterom made the comment about India abstaining in the General Assembly.
In April, India voted against a resolution proposed by the United States to expel Russia from the UN Human Rights Council amid allegations that Russian military killed civilians while fleeing from villages near Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital.
In March, India voted against a resolution on the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine proposed by Ukraine and its allies at the United Nations General Assembly, claiming that the focus should be on ending hostilities and providing urgent humanitarian aid, and that the draught did not fully reflect New Delhi’s expectations.
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