Russia Has To Abandon Plans To Send Observers To Ukrainian Election - Foreign Ministry

Mohammad Ali (@ChaudhryMAli88) Published March 25, 2019 | 01:17 PM

Russia has to abandon its intention to send its observers to the Ukrainian presidential election within the OSCE monitoring mission to safeguard them from potential harassment, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Monday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th March, 2019) Russia has to abandon its intention to send its observers to the Ukrainian presidential election within the OSCE monitoring mission to safeguard them from potential harassment, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Monday.

"It has recently become known that the Ukrainian Central Election Commission took an illegitimate decision to deny accreditation to 24 Russian citizens who were part of the OSCE [Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights] ODIHR mission monitoring the presidential election in Ukraine... Under the circumstances, Russia has to abandon intention to send its observers to Ukraine in order to protect them from the threat of harassment," the ministry said.

According to Moscow, Kiev's illegitimate actions in relation to the Russian observers were revealed in the interim report presented by the OSCE ODIHR on March 15.

"In addition, it also contains complaints related to the election campaign. These include non-compliance with the recommendations issued after the previous elections, abuse of public funds, voter bribery, abuse of administrative resources, criminal prosecution of presidential candidates, political engagement of the Central Election Commission and courts, inconsistencies in the work of territorial election commissions etc.

.. Such assessment calls into question the legitimacy of the upcoming election," the ministry said.

Moscow will continue to closely follow the Ukrainian presidential campaign and cooperate with the OSCE ODIHR mission and other structures that monitor the situation in Ukraine, the ministry added.

"Наме�ен� п�одолжать внимательно следить за ходом изби�ательной кампании на Ук�аине и тесно взаимодействовать с БДИПЧ и д�угими исполнительн�ми ст�укту�ами ОБСЕ, кото��е п�изван� осуществлять монито�инг ситуации с демок�атией и п�авами человека в этой ст�ане и содействовать их соблюдению", - гово�ится в тексте сообщения на сайте �оссийского дипведомства.