New Delhi: India on Thursday, October 12, abstained from voting on a resolution moved in the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) that extended by a year the mandate of the independent expert documenting the human rights situation in Russia.India has abstained from all resolutions moved against Russia in the UN since the Ukraine war in February 2022.The resolution was adopted on Thursday at the UNHRC’s 54th regular session, with 18 votes in favour and seven against. Like earlier, the number of abstentions this time around were also more than the number of votes in favour of the resolution.The resolution extended the Special Rapporteur’s mandate, urging Russia to comply with all the state’s obligations under international human rights law. The UNHRC previously appointed a Commission of Inquiry to look into rights abuses related to Russia’s war in Ukraine.Bolivia, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Vietnam voted against the resolution. Along with India, the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Mexico, Bangladesh, Maldives, and Morocco abstained from the voting.India had also abstained from last year’s resolution, as it has with regard to all resolutions criticising Russia for the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. New Delhi has refrained from directly blaming Russia but called for a peaceful resolution and to stop targeting civilians.Contrary to the stance taken by the West, India has increased the purchase of Russian crude oil, arguing that it is necessary to ameliorate the economic consequence of the Ukraine war.The latest resolution urged Russia to ensure fundamental freedoms, including those of thought, opinion and expression, and peaceful assembly, “in particular by removing restrictions on diversity in ideas, criticism and dissent as well as associated rights to liberty and security of person, fair trial, and freedom from torture”.The vote came after Russia’s bid to rejoin the Council was rejected by the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, October 10. Russia had been expelled from the UNHRC in April 2022.