WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield will on Tuesday introduce a resolution at the United Nations Security Council condemning referendums held by Russia in occupied regions of Ukraine, according to a U.S. official.
The resolution, to be introduced jointly with Albania, will call on member states not to recognize any altered status of Ukraine and also obligate Russia to withdraw its troops from its neighbor, the official said.
The Russian mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Russia has the ability to veto such a resolution.
But Thomas-Greenfield will warn that Washington could also look to the U.N. General Assembly to send a message, the official added.
Russian-installed officials in four occupied regions of Ukraine reported huge majorities on Tuesday in favor of becoming part of Russia after five days of voting in so-called referendums that Kyiv and the West denounced as a sham.
Ukraine urged the European Union to impose new punitive sanctions on Russia in response to the voting, which it said was carried out at gunpoint in many cases.
(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis and Simon LewisEditing by Mark Heinrich)
