The UN General Assembly has voted to let Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy address next week's annual meeting of world leaders in a prerecorded video.
The 193-member General Assembly voted 101-7 with 19 abstentions to allow Zelenskiy to use the format for his address as opposed to requiring him to travel to New York to make his speech in person.
The decision gives Zelenskiy a big political stage at the meeting, which Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend.
Russia, Belarus, Cuba, North Korea, Eritrea, Nicaragua, and Syria were the seven countries that voted against granting Zelenskiy the exception.
Ukraine's UN mission had argued that Zelenskiy "cannot participate in-person at the meetings of the General Assembly due to ongoing Russian aggression against Ukraine."
Dmitry Polyansky, Russia's deputy UN ambassador, said Moscow was always in favor of "in-person diplomacy at the UN," but accused Western countries of a double standard.
Polyansky told the General Assembly the representatives of African countries, who frequently encounter similar difficulties traveling to New York, have been refused.
An amendment submitted by Belarus that would have allowed any world leader to address the assembly in a prerecorded video message failed.
For the past two years world leaders have been allowed to submit their speeches in prerecorded videos because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but this year they are expected to travel to New York to speak to the UN General Assembly in person.
Within a week of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine launched on February 24, nearly three-quarters of the General Assembly voted to reprimand Moscow and demand it withdraw its troops. Three weeks ago the assembly again denounced Russia for creating a "dire" humanitarian situation.