VILNIUS, December 7 (Itar-Tass) —— Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov advised his U.S. counterpart to express opinion about the Russian parliamentary election in a bilateral format rather than from the rostrum of the OSCE.
“If the parties have claims to each other they should voice them in a dialogue. Otherwise it means disrespect to the OSCE,” he said on Wednesday at the OSCE ministerial meeting in the Lithuanian capital commenting on the statement of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who described the Russian election as “neither free nor fair.”
“Clinton and her team have likely come here to impress voters,” he said when asked to comment on Russian media reports that he had cut short his stay in Vilnius because of Clinton’s statements.
In Moscow the foreign ministry issued a statement saying “the Russian citizens have made their choice and only they have the right to determine the future of the country regardless of someone’s biased assessments and politicized advice.”
Chairman of the State Duma committee for international affairs Konstantin Kosachev said Clinton’s statement “will not promote an improved atmosphere in our relationship.”