MOSCOW, September 12. /TASS/. Kiev's attempts to advance ultimatums to Russia and make the opening of polling stations in Ukraine dependent on elections in Russia’s Crimea are ridiculous, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Monday.
"As for the attempts of the Kiev authorities to advance ultimatums to Russia, to make the opening of polling stations in Ukraine dependent on holding elections in Russia’s Crimea, such attempts are ridiculous," the ministry said.
"Crimea is Russia’s inseparable part and the decision to hold elections is Russia’s exclusive competence."
Kiev opts for further deteriorating ties with Russia once again
On September 10, Ukraine’s president said it is impossible to organize the Russian parliamentary elections in Ukraine on September 18. There are four diplomatic missions of Russia in Ukraine: the embassy in Kiev and the consulates general in Odessa, Kharkov and Lvov. A member of Russia’s Central Election Commission Vasily Likhachev said there are some 80,000 Russian voters in Ukraine.
Kiev’s refusal to provide an adequate level of security in holding State Duma elections on Ukrainian territory runs counter to the rules of civilized international relations, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.
"The September 10 decision by the Kiev authorities to the effect it was impossible to arrange for Russian State Duma elections at the offices of Russian organizations in Ukrainian territory violates the rules of politeness and civilized international relations".
Russia had informed Kiev beforehand on holding the September 18 polls on the premises of Russia’s embassy in Kiev and the consulates in Lvov, Odessa and Kharkov as demanded by international laws and asked to ensure their security, the ministry said.
The ministry reminded that the current authorities in Ukraine were elected at the early presidential polls in 2014 and parliamentary polls in 2015 that were conducted also on Russia’s territory. Their security was ensured despite the problems in relations between Moscow and Kiev.
Kiev’s decision on the impossibility of holding the elections to the State Duma in the Russian diplomatic missions located in Ukraine "is the violation of norms of decency and rules of civilized international communications," the ministry stressed.
"Under their international commitments, including the Vienna conventions, the Kiev authorities must ensure security of Russian diplomatic and consular missions located on Ukraine’s territory, and also permanently, not only on the election day," the ministry said. "However, numerous provocations against Russia’s missions have been seen of late, and most often under the passive eye of Ukraine’s law enforcers."
Moscow has also urged Kiev’s foreign partners to ensure security of Russian missions in Ukraine on September 18, the day of elections to Russia’s State Duma lower parliament house:
"We call on Kiev’s foreign partners who care so much about the image of the Ukrainian authorities, as well as on international organizations advocating human rights to give a principled assessment of this step and demand this openly anti-democratic and discriminatory decision be canceled". The Russian Foreign Ministry reminded that Ukrainian authorities "were directly responsible for security of diplomatic and consular mission of all foreign states."
Moscow has also called on the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) of OSCE in Ukraine to employ its monitors to Russian diplomatic missions during the voting:
"We call on the Special Monitoring Mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which is tasked to promote security in various regions of Ukraine, including Kiev, Lvov, Odessa and Kharkov, to pay special attention to the situation around Russian diplomatic missions and employ OSCE monitors on September 18 among other measures," the ministry said in a statement.