MFA Spokesman Mikhail Kamynin Commentary on the Situation Surrounding the Refusal by Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the OSCE to Send a Mission to Observe the Elections for the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation
Of late certain capitals have been issuing statements grossly distorting the situation that predetermined the refusal by ODIHR (Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of OSCE) to send a mission to Russia to observe the upcoming December 2 elections for the State Duma of the Federal Assembly. Spokesmen for the State Department, the European Commission and some EU member countries are trying to present matters so as if the cause for the ODIHR decision had been "unprecedented restrictions" on the number of observers and length of observation supposedly imposed by the Russian side. They are again insinuating that there were "problems with issuance of visas" for observers. All of this is to "express solidarity" with the aforesaid decision of the ODIHR leadership.
A European Commission spokeswoman, in a bid to shift the blame, went even further by expressing an "expectation" that the Russian side would secure conformity of the upcoming elections in the part of their openness and democratic standards to the guarantees that were given by us at the highest level during the recent Russia-EU summit in Portugal.
We see no grounds for the Commission's concern whatsoever. Russian President Putin in Mafra assured the European partners that international observers would be invited in full accordance with our obligations and we would inform the partners of the observation parameters. Recall that those obligations, as stated in OSCE documents, consist in inviting representatives of other OSCE member states, ODIHR, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and other organizations "to observe national elections in a manner that is regulated by law." We kept our promise. In response we see a demonstrative reluctance to obey the rules established by Russian law, and the striving to impose the observation scheme which is a product of the Office's own devising. Responsibility for the harm inflicted as a result upon our interaction with ODIHR lies entirely on the ODIHR leadership, as also on their "prompters."
Apart from the above-mentioned obligations, no agreements regulating the parameters for election observation have been concluded at the interstate level in the OSCE. The reason for this has been the obstructionist line of a number of western countries blocking the proposals for collectively elaborating the modalities of ODIHR observation activity understandable and acceptable to all. It's not the first year that Russia jointly with the CSTO partners has been coming up with such proposals. We will continue this work, because the situation where the internal ODIHR instructions, compiled and approved by no one knows whom, are being presented as a "gold standard" of international observation of elections can no longer be put up with.
November 22, 2007
