United Nations

India has abstained on a Security Council resolution condemning Moscow's annexation of parts of Ukraine while saying it was "deeply disturbed by the recent turn of developments" there.

The resolution, which sought to declare as illegal the referendum Moscow said it held in those areas to annex them, was vetoed by Permanent Member Russia, although it received 10 votes with four abstentions in the 15-member Council on Friday.

India's abstention came a fortnight after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had emphatically spoken to Russia's President Vladimir Putin against the invasion and External Affairs Minister told the General Assembly last week that New Delhi was on "the side that respects the UN Charter and its founding principles".

While explaining the abstention, India's Permanent Representative Ruchira Kamboj told the Council, "India is deeply disturbed by the recent turn of developments in Ukraine. We have always advocated that no solution can ever be arrived at the cost of human lives."

"India's Prime Minister has also emphasised that this cannot be an era of war," she added highlighting his public statement to Putin in Samarkand in September, which has been welcomed by Washington and interpreted as a shift from India's presumed neutrality.

This was at least the ninth time India had abstained on a substantive resolution on Ukraine at the UN.

US Permanent Representative Linda Thomas-Greenfield did not attach much weight to the abstentions by India, along with China, Brazil and Gabon.

Speaking to reporters outside the Council chamber after the vote, she said, "Their abstentions clearly were not a defence of Russia. They were not in support of Russia and they made clear their condemnation of Russia."

Kamboj said, "India's position has been clear and consistent from the very beginning of this conflict: The global order is anchored on the principles of the UN Charter, international law and respect for sovereignty and the territorial integrity of all states."

Calling for an immediate end to the conflict, she said, "Dialogue is the only answer to settling differences and disputes, however daunting that may appear at this moment."

The Council took up the resolution hours after Putin held a ceremony at the Kremlin to formalise the annexation and declared that the territories were now part of Russia and Moscow would defend them.

The seized territories together cover "more than 90,000 square km", which UK's Permanent Representative Barbara Woodward said, "is the largest forcible annexation of territory since the Second World War."

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The referendum came after Russia faced military setbacks and retreated from some of the territories it had invaded.