“The Verkhovna Rada’s decision not to allow Russian citizens to observe elections in Ukraine as part of the OSCE ODIHR mission is complete neglect of Kiev’s international obligations. This was indicated even by its Western curators in the person of the special representative of the US State Department for Ukraine Kurt Volker. However, this did not stop the Ukrainian parliamentarians from making an essentially unlawful decision,” said Leonid Slutskiy
Leonid Eduardovich
.
“All this suggests that the current Ukrainian President is in agony, he is cornered by the West itself,” the member of the State Duma believes, adding that Western countries have never been worried about the fate of Ukraine and the lives of its citizens. In his opinion, the priority task was to weaken Russia's position in the region by breaking ties between the peoples of Russia and Ukraine, “in which [President of Ukraine Petr] Poroshenko excelled and was successful under the auspices of his overseas tutors.”
“In any case, the non-admission of even part of international observers (representatives of Russia are part of the OSCE ODIHR mission) calls into question the openness and democratic nature of the electoral process in Ukraine. And the delegation of the Russian Federation intends to raise this issue at the next session of the OSCE PA, which will be held in Vienna in late February. We are curious about a reaction,” he concluded.
