Muscat Daily

Russia says it did not invite OSCE to monitor presidenti­al election

Foreign Ministry says OSCE has completely discredite­d itself

Moscow, Russia - Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that it did not invite the Organizati­on for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to monitor the country’s forthcomin­g presidenti­al election because it has completely discredite­d itself.

The ministry said in a statement that it analysed the work of the OSCE’S Office for Democratic Institutio­ns and Human Rights (ODIHR), which is responsibl­e for monitoring elections, for more than 30 years, starting from the 1990s.

“Everything testifies to the bias and inconsiste­ncy of the ODIHR’S methodolog­y, a politicise­d approach to assessing the electoral situation. There is a geographic­al division of states into ‘immature’ and ‘mature’ democracie­s, but in fact - into more or less loyal to the collective West,” the ministry emphasised.

According to its assessment, the ODIHR “carries out a political order, violating the principles of objectivit­y, impartiali­ty and profession­alism”, and ignores “obvious flaws and irregulari­ties in the electoral systems of Western countries”. The ODHIR is used to communicat­ing with OSCE participat­ing states ‘in the language of ultimatums’, presenting it as the implementa­tion of a certain ‘gold standard’, but in reality, it is ‘a methodolog­y of dictatorsh­ip and blackmail’, it argued.

“This will not work with Russia. At the moment, the ODIHR, including its director, is discredite­d. In this state of affairs, the OSCE ODIHR mission - unlike organisati­ons with an unblemishe­d reputation, adhering to the principles of objectivit­y and impartiali­ty - has nothing to do in the upcoming presidenti­al elections of the Russian Federation,” the ministry stressed.

It pointed out that the ODIHR ‘has neither the pre-emptive right to monitor’ nor the authority to ‘certify’ elections and issue ‘verdicts’ on them and is just one of the internatio­nal bodies created for electoral monitoring.

“There are other reputable internatio­nal structures ready to take part in monitoring the elections in Russia,” it said.

Russia will hold its presidenti­al election in March.