EU Critical Of Russian Parliamentary Elections - Commission Spokesman

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th September, 2021) The European Union believes that the Russian State Duma elections � the lower house of parliament � were held "in an atmosphere of intimidating independent voices" and without proper international monitoring, Peter Stano, the lead spokesman for Foreign Affairs of the European Commission, said Monday.

In late August, the chairman of the Russian lower chamber's commission for the investigation of foreign interference, Vasily Piskarev, warned that a smear campaign to discredit the results of the State Duma elections was being planned in the West. On September 16, the European Parliament approved a report calling for EU authorities to refuse to recognize the elections, if Brussels decided that the Russian parliamentary vote is fraudulent.

"What we have seen in case of Russia over the last few days in terms of Duma elections and also regional elections, is that these elections have taken place in an atmosphere of intimidating critical and independent voices, and these elections took place without credible international observation," Stano told a briefing.

He expressed regret about Moscow's decision to limit the OSCE monitoring mission and to "prevent the deployment of this mission." Stano also said that the EU had been informed by "independent and reliable" sources that there were serious violations during the vote, citing an "increased crackdown" on the opposition, civil society organizations, and human rights activists in the run-up to the elections.

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At the same time, Stano said the EU cannot make a decision about recognizing the overall results of the elections, as this falls within the purview of member states. However, according to the EU diplomat, the bloc "will never recognize the elections in illegally annexed Crimea."�

The EC spokesman further urged Russia to fulfill its commitments concerning human rights, and holding free and fair elections under the UN, OSCE, and Council of Europe.

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) refused to send any observers to Russia to monitor the parliamentary elections after Moscow limited the number of observers to fifty due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The OSCE, which intended to send about 500 observers, said it believes that limitations were imposed "without any clear pandemic-related restrictions."

Without the OSCE mission, the number of international observers in the Duma elections reached more than 380 people from eighty countries.

Russian legislative elections took place in all regions of the country on September 17-19. The State Duma is elected for a five-year term under a mixed electoral system � 225 lawmakers are elected on party lists, and another 225 on single-mandate Constituencies in one round.�