Pakistan has gone through a big test in the United Nations General Assembly as it did not vote in support of a resolution tabled by the Western countries against Russia, calling on the member countries not to recognize the four regions of Ukraine which Russia has claimed.

Shortly after the vote, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Astana, Kazakhstan on Thursday.

AFP has released a photo of the two leaders in which both can be seen walking together, with PM Shehbaz saying something and Putin listening to him.

Both Shahbaz and Putin were in Astana to attend the 6th summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA).

The two leaders had earlier met on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Uzbekistan in September.

In their meeting, Putin had offered to supply gas to Pakistan saying that gas supplies to Pakistan were possible, and that part of the necessary infrastructure was already in place.

However, the recent referendum held in the United Nations General Assembly was considered a test for Pakistan to remain neutral.

United States’ tensions with Russia and China are increasing and in this context, the fear that Pakistan could become a “geopolitical football” was also on the rise.

Russia, on September 23, had launched referendums aimed at annexing four occupied regions of Ukraine, drawing condemnation from Kyiv and Western nations who dismissed the votes as a ‘sham’ and pledged not to recognise their results.

Putin annexed the regions despite warnings from the West. The longtime Russian leader said the people of the regions had made a “univocal choice” to join Russia after so-called referendums that Moscow organized. “I want to say this to the Kyiv regime and its masters in the West. People living in the Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia (regions) are becoming our citizens forever,” he added.

With Pakistan, India, and China abstaining, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution by a large majority Wednesday, calling on countries not to recognize the four regions of Ukraine which Russia has claimed, following so-called referendums held late last month, and demanding that Moscow reverse course on its “attempted illegal annexation”.

A total of 143 countries supported the resolution and condemned the Russian move, while 35 countries did not vote.

The Indian government has been bearing the wrath of the West for the past few weeks due to its close ties with Russia, leading the western countries to support Pakistan’s position on Kashmir.

However, in the UN General Assembly, Pakistan has maintained its neutrality by not condemning Russia’s move.