Russia failed in its bid to rejoin the U.N.'s top human rights body during a vote that served as yet another rebuke of the nation's invasion of Ukraine.
Tuesday's vote in the U.N. General Assembly delivered just 83 votes to Russia in its attempt to return to the U.N. Human Rights Council. Russia vied with Albania and Bulgaria for one of two Eastern European seats.
By contrast, the assembly in New York delivered 160 votes to Bulgaria and 123 to Albania in a secret ballot vote, giving them each three-year seats. Bulgaria and Albania were among 15 new countries that won seats on the 47-nation council, which meets regularly throughout the year in Geneva.
The vote undermined Moscow's claim it still has support from a silent majority of 193 U.N. member nations. Yet the more than 40% level of support is enough to raise concerns in Kyiv and allied Western nations.
"U.N. member states sent a strong signal to Russia's leadership that a government responsible for countless war crimes and crimes against humanity doesn't belong there," said Louis Charbonneau, the U.N. director at Human Rights Watch.
The assembly has voted to condemn the invasion and to suspend Moscow's participation in the Human Rights Council. The U.N.'s Independent Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine has said it found evidence of torture, rape and other war crimes by Russian forces invading Ukraine.
The 13 other nations that won seats are Brazil, Burundi, China, Cuba, Dominican Republic, France, Ghana, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Japan, Kuwait, Malawi, and the Netherlands. Their three-year terms begin Jan. 1.
China, Cuba, France, Ivory Coast and Malawi were re-elected to second terms.
The only other competitive race was the four-way contest between Cuba, Brazil, the Dominican Republic and Peru for three seats. Peru lost and Cuba received the most votes despite opposition to its candidacy from Human Rights Watch.
