ODIHR Director Christian Strohal would like to send 20 experts of the main observer mission to Russia as early as at the end of the next week and a further 50 experts a week later.
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OSCE Wants to Send Observers to Russia Asap
Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) Christian Strohal sent a letter to Russia on Wednesday asking to allow European observers into the country three weeks before the election rather than on the election day as the Central Election Commission suggested. Russian election authorities called it provocation and reason for a new political scandal. Meanwhile, President Vladimir Putin has called on the Federal Security Service (FSB) to “step up their efforts” during the election campaign to resist any outside interference in the country’s “internal affairs”.
Mr. Strohal said in the letter that the ODIHR would like to send 20 experts of the main observer mission to Russia as early as at the end of the next week and a further 50 experts a week after. 70 observers is the biggest number the Russian Central Election Commission permitted for the OSCE mission.
Curtis Budden, a spokesman for the observers, told Kommersant that the ODIHR needs more time to monitor media, the candidate’s presidential campaign, human rights and activities of the election campaign. “A lot of time has already been lost,” Mr. Budden said. “We must start working as soon as possible or don’t start at all.”
The ODIHR was the only international body which came with blistering criticism for new rules on the admission of foreign observers first enforced the Election Committee at the December parliamentary election. The decision to cut the number of observes and time for observing made the OSCE human rights arm decide not to monitor the Duma election.
The Central Commission is to send its reply to the ODIHR on Thursday. But a source in the election authority told Kommersant Wednesday: “The ODIHR is provoking us. They are asking to be allowed to come earlier but they have not even sent us accreditation applications without which we won’t be able to start registering the mission.” Meanwhile, the commission’s Igor Borisov said: “We are ready to meet all reasonable suggestions of the ODIR even prolonging their stay.”
Kommersant sources report that the Central Election Commission may agree to receive the first group of experts on February 7 and 8 and a group of 12 on February 11 provided their agree to a suggested schedule of monitoring.
Meanwhile, in a Wednesday speech to FSB officials, Russian President Vladimir Putin urged his former colleagues to “step up efforts to gather information” about attempts to interfere in Russia’s affairs, especially during the presidential campaign.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Jan. 31, 2008
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