UN rejects Russia’s proposal for secret ballot in Ukraine war discussion

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The UN General Assembly on Monday blocked Russia’s proposal to make secret votes on resolutions on the Ukrainian War. Later this week, members of the United Nations will vote on a text condemning Moscow’s annexation of four Ukrainian regions.

In this Monday’s discussion, 107 countries voted against the Russians and 13 in favor – another 39 abstained. The composition is similar to previous votes on the subject, debated between March and April.

Brazil, this time, voted with the majority. In late September, the country refrained from condemning the annexations during a Security Council meeting.

This week’s resolution will criticize Russia’s “so-called referendums” and Moscow’s “attempted illegal annexation”. The text also calls for no state to recognize these annexations and demands the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine. According to the Reuters news agency, the vote should take place on Wednesday (12).

Russia argued that a secret ballot would be necessary due to what it called the Western lobby. According to the Kremlin, the movement associated with the United States and Europe “makes it very difficult for positions to be expressed publicly.”

Moscow also said the resolutions “have nothing to do with upholding international law”. “They pursue their own geopolitical goals,” wrote Russian UN Ambassador Vasili Nebenzia.

To the AFP agency, a member of the American delegation, on the other hand, retorted the Russian and said that the Kremlin proposal suggests desperation. Secret ballots in the General Assembly are rare and usually only take place for elections of Security Council members.

Before the vote, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken lobbied the international community to vote against Russia. “Now is the time to speak out in support of Ukraine; it is not the time for abstentions, appeasement words or equivocations over claims of neutrality. The fundamental principles of the UN Charter are at stake,” he said in a statement.

Similar words were said by the European Union’s ambassador to the body. According to Olof Skoog, the General Assembly’s lack of action would give “carte blanche for other countries to do the same, or recognize what Russia has done”.

Also on Monday, the UN criticized the bombing by Russian forces against several Ukrainian cities, including Kiev – similar actions had not taken place in months. The attacks are a response by the Kremlin to recent advances by Ukrainians in the east and south of the country and the explosion of a bridge in Crimea, a region annexed by Russia in 2014, on Saturday (8).

Through his spokesman, the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, denounced “a new unacceptable escalation of the war”, in which civilians “are paying the highest price”.

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