Senior MP Slams OSCE Observers’ Refusal to Monitor Russian Election

Excerpt from “Novosti” news report by state-controlled Russian Channel One TV on 16 November

[Presenter] The election to the State Duma will take place on 2 December. Meanwhile, politicians and diplomats in Moscow are discussing an unexpected decision by the OSCE [Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe]. This organization’s observers will not monitor the process of the Russian parliamentary election. A statement to this effect was made today by the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. They are citing delays with the process of issuing visas [as the reason].

This decision by international observers has surprised Russian diplomats. An official representative of the Foreign Ministry stated that as early as on Wednesday [14 November] the head of the OSCE observers’ mission received a confirmation that Russia was giving permission to receive observers. And only yesterday, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reassured the OSCE that its observers will receive visas. [Passage omitted]

The head of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, Konstantin Kosachev, for his part, believes that by its refusal to send observers to Russia, the OSCE office is attempting to provoke a scandal.

[Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on International Affairs] The Russian invitation, which was sent more than a month in advance, has provided all the possibilities for sending observers and organizing for them normal work that is not politicized. But it seems that it is difficult for these pseudo-observers to find in substance anything in our election system that could lend itself to criticism, and this has led to these attempts to create a scandal to take up some kind of political posture, which is completely inappropriate for an executive body such as the Office [for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights].

Our election will take place, as they say, in any weather. It will proceed according to the very highest European standards with international observers present.

Originally published by Channel One TV, Moscow, in Russian 1200 16 Nov 07.

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