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Russian MP concerned over reports of possible falsifications during Ukrainian election

Chairman of the Russian State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee paid attention that from process of vote millions of Ukrainians are cut off and also electoral rights of citizens of Donbass are violated

MOSCOW, March 30. /TASS/. Chairman of the Russian State Duma (lower house of parliament) Foreign Affairs Committee Leonid Slutsky has expressed his concerns over possible falsifications and provocations during the Ukrainian presidential election, set to be held on March 31.

"I am concerned over the situation in Ukraine, where on Sunday, a presidential election will take place. Today is "a day of silence" in our neighbor country, but on the line of our colleagues - both human rights activists and experts - we receive worrying information on planned fakes and machinations with the citizens’ personal data. Provocations are not out of the question," Slutsky wrote on his Telegram channel on Saturday.

"Millions of Ukrainians have been cut off from the voting process due to Kiev’s decision not to open polling stations in its representative organs in Russia. Donbass citizens’ voting rights are being violated. The denial of access to Russian observers on the line of international organizations has already been recognized by the OSCE as a violation of Ukraine’s electoral obligations."

"We cannot count solely upon the objectivity of European observers only, which raises serious doubts: Ukraine continues to remain a territory of foreign influence, and the West has been turning a blind eye to the atrocities of the current Ukrainian officials against its own population, as well as unprecedented human rights violations," the Russian MP added.

Even journalists may fall victim to "the Kiev regime’s political games", because foreign members of the media can be denied entry to Ukraine during the election due to "ties to Russia".

"How can we talk about a transparent, open and democratic electoral process, when the election’s legitimacy has been undermined from the very start?" the Russian MP pointed out.

Ukraine’s presidential election is due on March 31, 2019. According to surveys, TV personality Vladimir Zelensky leads the race, while leader of the Batkivshchina (or Fatherland) party Yulia Timoshenko and incumbent President Pyotr Poroshenko battle it out for second place.

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