Russia is lobbying for a secret ballot instead of a public vote when the 193-member U.N. General Assembly next week considers whether to condemn Moscow's move to annex four partially occupied regions in Ukraine after staging what it called referendums.
Ukraine and allies have denounced the votes in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia as illegal and coercive. A Western-drafted U.N. General Assembly resolution would condemn Russia's "illegal so-called referenda" and the "attempted illegal annexation" of the areas where voting occurred.
