Russia To Seek Int'l Backing For Sending Election Observers To Ukraine - Foreign Ministry Grigory Karasin

Russia to Seek Int'l Backing for Sending Election Observers to Ukraine - Foreign Ministry Grigory Karasin

Russia has a right to send observers to the presidential poll in Ukraine and will seek the backing of international organizations, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said Tuesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd January, 2019) Russia has a right to send observers to the presidential poll in Ukraine and will seek the backing of international organizations, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said Tuesday.

"We will demand that they are given access [to the polls]. There are international institutions... international precedent that allows our observers to monitor Ukrainian elections.

We will proceed from this premise," he told reporters.

Karasin suggested that Russia could seek the support of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Ukrainians will vote in a presidential election on March 31. Incumbent President Petro Poroshenko is yet to announce his bid for re-election. He has been lagging behind former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko in all opinion polls.