The vote in the UN General Assembly on the invasion of Ukraine has no concrete consequences, it is a symbolic act. It is precisely for this reason that it offers a reasonably meaningful opinion on how the international community feels about a permanent member of the Security Council waging a war of aggression that violates international law .
Just four of the 193 member states voted with Moscow.
One of the four states is Russia's brother-in-arms Belarus, the others are anything but liberal model states: North Korea, Syria and Eritrea.
The list shows the society in which Putin now finds himself.
The 35 abstentions that were received are remarkable.
After all, almost a fifth of the world of states do not want to get on bad terms with Moscow.
The majority of them are developing countries, which are usually irrelevant in international politics.
But this group also includes China and India.
The two major Asian powers, which will still play an important role in the 21st century, are sticking to their equidistance course.
In the case of China, this shows once again that Xi cannot be counted on to put the brakes on his close ally Putin.
The case of India shows once again that the “world's largest democracy” is not automatically in the western camp.
Both are not only a problem for the future of Ukraine, but also for that of world politics.