Who Supports Russia in the Russo-Ukrainian War?

Who supports Russia in the Russo-Ukraine war? We provide a systematic empirical analysis of the United Nations General Assembly resolution to suspend Russian membership at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to identify the underlying reasons why some United Nations (UN) members support Russia. Our analysis provides empirical evidence supporting the hypotheses derived from existing studies. We demonstrate that democratic countries are more likely to vote for the resolution to suspend the Russian membership in the HRC, and non- democratic ones are more likely to vote against it, with abstention as the baseline for comparison. Additionally, we find that economic and political ties, measured through trade dependency, humanitarian aid, and arms trade, factor in when policymakers decide on their positions at the UN. Lastly, contrary to the grievance hypothesis, which supposes that countries dissatisfied with the current international order support revisionist Russia, we find that the countries sanctioned by the United States in the past are more likely to support the resolution suspending the Russian membership at the HRC.