Serbia claims it voted to revoke Russia’s UNHRC status under duress amid sanctions threat

Serbia which was among the 92 countries who voted in favour of the resolution to suspend Russia's membership in the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), has now stated that it voted under the "threat of facing sanctions and increasing pressures". 

This came shortly after the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has suspended Russia from the UNHRC over allegations of committing horrific human rights violations in Ukraine. Serbia was among with along with 92 other countries that had voted in favour of the resolution, while 24 have voted against the resolution, and 53 nations, including India, have abstained from voting.

Serbian President Alexander Vucic while speaking to Radio Television of Serbia, a public broadcaster of Serbia, confirmed about same and said that his country voted to suspend Russia's membership in the Council in view of the threats of facing sanctions and rising western pressure. "People asked why we didn't vote against or didn't abstain from voting. However, if we abstained, other countries will go against us and the pressure will increase", he said. 

In addition to this, he also noted that in the meantime, a crucial decision was also being made regarding the destiny of Serbia on whether it will be exempted from the package of sanctions on oil from the European Union. Notably, one of the Russian-owned companies, Gazprom Neft which is the majority shareholder of the Petroleum Industry of Serbia is presently facing sanctions by the European Union. 

UNGA suspends Russia from UN Human Rights Council

In a major development, the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday took a major move and suspended the membership of Russia from the United Nations Human Rights Council in line with the allegations of carrying out human rights violations in Ukraine and further causing a 'mass genocide'. During this while, a total of 92 countries had voted in favour, 24 had voted against the resolution, whereas, 53 nations had abstained from voting.

The move was initiated by the United States after shocking images of corpses strewn across streets of the Ukrainian city Bucha, and other cities surfaced in the past few days leading to Washington calling out Moscow’s participation in the top human rights body a "farce”. US envoy to the United Nations had earlier placed a case seeking the suspension of Russia from the UNHRC. 

It is important to note that the decision came on the same day when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during an exclusive interview with Republic TV's Editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami had slammed the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for not taking strong measures against Russia by isolating them, and just using the word 'concerned' for over eight years. 

Image: AP