Madagascar's president has sacked the country's foreign minister because he voted in favor of a UN resolution condemning Russian referendums to annex parts of Ukraine's territory
State TV channel TVM reports that Richard Randriamandrato pressed ahead with the vote without talking to the rest of the government.
There were 142 other countries that also voted in favour of the resolution to condemn Russia over the referendums which were viewed as a sham by much of the international community.
Until now Madagascar has taken a neutral position on the Ukraine war, as have several other African countries.