Russia wants secret vote on U.N. move

Resolution would declare Moscow’s Ukraine annexation attempt illegal

Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya raises his hand against a U.N. Security Council vote on a draft resolution sanctioning Russia's planned annexation of war-occupied Ukraine territory, Friday Sept. 30, 2022 at U.N. headquarters. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya raises his hand against a U.N. Security Council vote on a draft resolution sanctioning Russia's planned annexation of war-occupied Ukraine territory, Friday Sept. 30, 2022 at U.N. headquarters. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

UNITED NATIONS -- Russia called for a secret ballot vote next week on a Western-backed resolution that would condemn its "attempted illegal annexation" of part of four Ukrainian regions and demand that Moscow immediately reverse its actions. Russia apparently hopes it would get more support from the 193 nations in the General Assembly if their votes are not public.

Russia vetoed what would have been a legally binding Security Council resolution on Sept. 30 to condemn annexation referendums in the four Ukrainian regions as illegal, declare them invalid and urge all countries not to recognize any annexation of the territory claimed by Moscow.

The United States and Albania, which sponsored the resolution, vowed to take the issue to all U.N. members in the General Assembly, where there are no vetoes but resolutions are not legally binding.

"Unless the international community reacts," European Union U.N. Ambassador Olof Skoog said Wednesday, "there can be claims that no one pays attention and this is now a carte blanche for other countries to do likewise or to give recognition to what Russia's done."

The General Assembly has announced that its emergency special session on Ukraine will resume on Monday afternoon, when the draft resolution will be presented. Diplomats said they expect speeches from member nations to continue Tuesday, with a vote on the resolution likely on Wednesday.

Votes on resolutions in the world body are traditionally public and are illuminated with different colored lights on a large board which has the name of every country.

But Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said in a six-page letter to all other U.N. ambassadors obtained by The Associated Press that the U.N. legal counsel has confirmed that a secret ballot can be used by the General Assembly "in decision-making."

In addition to demanding that Russia reverse its annexation of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, the draft resolution would declare that Moscow's actions violate Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity and are "inconsistent" with the principles of the U.N. Charter.

The proposed resolution says the annexations also "have no validity under international law and do not form the basis for any alternation of the status of these regions of Ukraine."

It demands that Russia "immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders ... to enable peaceful resolution of the conflict ... through political dialogue, negotiations, mediation and other peaceful means."

Russia's call for a secret ballot vote on the resolution is the latest step in the escalating confrontation between Moscow and the United States and its European allies over its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.

Russia's veto in the Security Council last Friday came hours after a lavish Kremlin ceremony where President Vladimir Putin signed treaties to annex the Russian-occupied Ukrainian regions, saying they were now part of Russia and would be defended by Moscow.

Putin signed the final papers Wednesday to annex the four regions and in a defiant move, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov held the door open for further land grabs in Ukraine, saying "certain territories will be reclaimed, and we will keep consulting residents who would be eager to embrace Russia."

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