The demand from the United States for a vote on whether Russia should be suspended from the Human Rights Council came after hundreds of dead bodies of civilians were found in the city of Butja on Sunday.
"Russia's presence on the Human Rights Council is a farce," said US United Nations envoy Linda Thomas-Greenfield on Monday.
The General Assembly needed to vote yes by at least two-thirds to remove Russia from the Council.
Russia's representative Gennady Kuzmin called the vote "an attempt by the United States to maintain its dominant position and total control".
Word for word before the vote
On Thursday before the vote took place, Ukraine's UN Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya urged members to support the proposal, writes CNN.
"We must take action today to save the Council from falling," Kyslytsya said.
Russia responded shortly afterwards by condemning the proposal.
"Today is not the time or place for theater," said Russia's UN Ambassador Gennady Kuzmin, adding:
- The motion for a resolution that we are considering today has nothing to do with the actual human rights situation on the ground.
He went on to refer to the events in Butja as settled.
Company with Libya
The Human Rights Council's 47 countries are elected by the General Assembly for three-year terms.
Russia is in the second of its three years in the Council, but according to a 2006 resolution, it is possible to exclude countries that "commit serious and systematic human rights abuses".
Russia will be the second country to be expelled by the Human Rights Council, along with Libya, which was expelled in 2011 as a result of dictator Muammar Gaddafi's crackdown on protesters.