Russia on Friday vetoed a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution telling Moscow to halt its attack on Ukraine and to withdraw all troops immediately.

Eleven countries voted in favour of the resolution, while India, China and the UAE, abstained. The 11-1 vote showed significant but not total opposition to Russia’s invasion of its neighbour.

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What is a veto?

The Security Council is composed of 15 Members. Five permanent members: China, France, Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and ten non-permanent members elected for two-year terms by the General Assembly (with the end of term year).

It was agreed by the drafters of the UN Charter that if any one of the five permanent members cast a negative vote in the 15-member Security Council, the resolution or decision would not be approved. This is their ‘veto power’.

All five permanent members have exercised the right of veto at one time or another. If a permanent member does not fully agree with a proposed resolution but does not wish to cast a veto, it may choose to abstain, thus allowing the resolution to be adopted if it obtains the required number of nine favourable votes.

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More than 50 United Nations Member States have never been members of the Security Council. A State which is a Member of the United Nations but not of the Security Council may participate, without a vote, in its discussions when the Council considers that country’s interests are affected.

The power of veto does not exist in the 193-member UN General Assembly. The failure of the resolution against Russia on Friday, therefore, could pave the way for countries to call for a vote on a similar measure in the Assembly in the near future.

Unlike Security Council resolutions, General Assembly resolutions aren’t legally binding, but they can function as statements of world opinion, according to an AP report.

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How often has Russia used its veto power in favour of India?

Over the years, Russia (or erstwhile USSR/Soviet Union) has cast a total of 146 vetoes, or close to half of all vetoes. At least four of these have been in support of India.

In the years 1957, 1962, and 1971, Russia was the only country that had sided with India by vetoing and blocking resolutions seeking UN interventions in Kashmir. 

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In 1961, Russia used its veto to back Indian state Goa against Portuguese occupation. Nikita Khrushchev, former Premier of the Soviet Union, reportedly sent a telegram to the then-Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru stating that India’s actions “to do away with outposts of colonialism in its territory were absolutely lawful and justified”. When Portugal, a NATO member, tried to invoke the UN Charter and proposed a resolution for India to withdraw its forces from Goa, all the other four permanent members supported it.. While all the other four permanent members supported it. USSR vetoed the resolution and helped liberate Goa from Portugal, according to a report by News Nine.

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Again in 1971, the Soviet Union ensured that Kashmir remained a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan. In December of the year, when the two countries were engaged in the Bangladesh war, the USSR used its veto power thrice to prevent the matter from becoming a global issue requiring interference. 

Most recently, Russia supported India in the international community in 2019, backing India’s move of scrapping Article 370 (which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir) and calling it an ‘internal matter’ of the country.