New Delhi: India stands for the UN charter on territorial integrity and has been consistent in reiterating its fundamental beliefs that this is not the time for war and we must give diplomacy all the chances it needs, former diplomat Manjeev Singh Puri said backing India's abstention in UNSC on Russia's referendum over Ukraine.

Speaking exclusively to ANI, Puri said, "India stands for the UN charter on territorial integrity. India has been consistent in the way it looks at matters and at the same time reiterating what our fundamental beliefs are which is not violating territorial integrity, the UN Charter, and above that this is not the time for war. We must give diplomacy all the chances it needs."

The UN security council voted on the resolutions condemning referendums in Ukraine at UNSC on Friday which were tabled by the US and Albania and failed to get adopted as Russia vetoed it whereas India, China, Gabon, and Brazil abstained.

"Russians were going for veto so everybody knew that this resolution is not going to go through but in the statement, India made its stand very clear," he added.

Over India's deft diplomacy at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which forced China to withdraw its resolution against the AUKUS, the senior diplomat highlighted that though many countries have nuclear part submarines the issue that Chinese were trying to bring to the table was to try and have a resolution from the general assembly of IAEA against countries to whom they thought were against them.

"The world did not look at it like this. They realized that the world was not going to buy an idea that is quintessentially their idea and their idea of talking about them being on the right side of doing the correct thing. The world did not agree with it. They can't win always," he said.

According to sources, the "General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was held in Vienna from September 26-30, 2022. China tried to get a resolution passed against the AUKUS for seeking to provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines (but armed with conventional weapons).

China argued that this initiative was in violation of its responsibilities under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). It also criticized the role of the IAEA in this regard. India took an objective view of the initiative, recognizing the soundness of the technical evaluation by the IAEA. The Indian Mission to the IAEA in Vienna worked closely with many IAEA member states in this regard.

India's considered role helped many smaller countries take a clear stand on the Chinese proposal. Realizing that its resolution would not get majority support, China withdrew its draft resolution on September 30. Interestingly, the Chinese were confident enough of the success on September 28 to get Global Times to issue an article on the subject.

India's deft and impactful diplomacy was deeply appreciated by IAEA member states, particularly the AUKUS partners.