The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution terminating Russia's participation in the Human Rights Council.

“The UN General Assembly has suspended Russia's participation in the UN Human Rights Council,” the statement said.

93 delegations voted in favor of the resolution, 24 against and 58 abstentions.

The document required two-thirds of the vote, with no abstentions. Thus, a total of 117 delegations voted in favor or against. By 93 votes to more than two-thirds, the resolution was adopted.

With the adoption of the resolution, Russia will retain its seat on the UN Human Rights Council but will lose its right to vote and speak. The decision to suspend Russia's membership will only apply to the current rotation, i.e. until the expiration of Russia's current term in the Council in 2023. After that, the Russian Federation will be able to apply for membership again.

Earlier, Russia, Kazakhstan, Venezuela, North Korea, Iran, Syria, Cuba and China told the UN General Assembly that they would vote against ending Russia's participation in the UN Human Rights Council.

Diplomats from those countries have called on other countries not to support the project. The Cuban representative said such hostile practices had been used against Russia but could be used against any other country in the future. The representative of Kazakhstan called for today's resolution to be considered only after the relevant international mechanisms have conducted a comprehensive investigation into human rights violations in Ukraine.

“The adoption of a UN General Assembly resolution suspending Russia's participation in the UN Human Rights Council will set a dangerous precedent and China will vote against it”, said China's permanent representative to the UN Zhang Jun at an extraordinary special session of the UN General Assembly.

“Such an important issue must be resolved in the most sensitive and fact-based way possible, calmly and objectively. However, this draft resolution has not been drafted in a transparent and open way. Not all UN members have been consulted in order to their opinions are be heard,” said Zhang Jun. “In these circumstances, such a hasty step in the UN General Assembly, which forces countries to choose a country, will exacerbate differences between member states and intensify confrontation between participating countries. It's like adding fuel to the fire,” Zhang Jun said. “China will be forced to vote against this draft resolution,” he concluded.

A number of countries, including the United States, Ukraine and Latvia, have drafted a resolution to that effect. This step is proposed in response to the situation around Ukraine. The draft resolution proposes “suspending Russia's membership in the UN Human Rights Council”. At the same time, the text says that the General Assembly decides to “reconsider the issue if necessary”.

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