Indian envoy's tweet to Dutch Ambassador: Don't patronize us

New Delhi: "Kindly don't patronise us, Ambassador. We know what to do," T.S. Tirumurti, India's Permanent Representative to the UN replied to a tweet by Karel van Oosterom, the Dutch Ambassador to the UK and Northern Ireland. This response was over a tweet by Oosterom when New Delhi abstained from voting against Russia's was in Ukraine in the General Assembly.

Oosterom in his tweet on late Thursday said, "You should not have abstained in the GA. Respect the UN Charter."

IANS reported that the Twitter spat came hours after Tirumurti addressed the Security Council where he reiterated New Delhi's neutral stance and said: "India remains on the side of peace and therefore believes that there will be no winning side in this conflict and while those impacted by this conflict will continue to suffer, diplomacy will be a lasting casualty."

Tirumurti said India "has strongly condemned the killing of civilians in Bucha and supported the call for an independent investigation".

He also said that India welcomed UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' visits to Moscow and Kiev late last month for meetings with the leaders of the two warring countries.

The envoy praised the UN evacuation of civilians from the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol and said: "We hope these efforts will extend to other areas as well."

The latest abstentation from India came on April 7 when the General Assembly voted to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council.

This was India's eighth abstention on actions at the UN related to the Russia-Ukraine war.