The United Nations General Assembly voted to suspend Russia from the U.N. Human Rights Council over its conduct in Ukraine, although dozens of nations abstained despite the Ukrainian ambassador¡¯s pleadings to defend ¡°the innocent lives lost¡± in the two-month war.
The rare move Thursday to suspend Russia was backed by 93 nations and opposed by 24. It¡¯s the first time such an action was backed at the U.N. since Libya was suspended during the final months of Moammar Gadhafi¡¯s rein in 2011.
Yet unlike previous condemnations that received overwhelming support, Thursday¡¯s proposal garnered 58 abstentions as countries including Brazil, Thailand, India and Mexico said they wanted to see the results of an independent probe of alleged atrocities completed before a decision on Russia¡¯s membership was made.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.