MOSCOW, September 13. /TASS/. Russia’s Human Rights ombudsman Tatyana Moskalkova while talking to the EU ambassador to Russia, Vigaudas Ushatskas, expressed concern regarding Kiev’s statement about the impossibility of organizing voting in the Russian parliamentary elections on Ukraine’s territory. It was Russia’s Human Rights Ombudsman’s first meeting with the EU ambassador since taking office, Moskalkova told TASS after the meeting.
"Depriving Russian nationals of the right to take part in voting in the parliamentary elections is unprecedented, so I expressed concern to the ambassador," Moskalkova said. According to her, "no country has ever prevented Russians from voting in the parliamentary elections. We would like the EU to respond to this decision so I asked the ambassador for assistance," the ombudsman said.
On September 10, it became known that Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko had issued instructions to inform Russian authorities about the impossibility of organizing voting in the Russian parliamentary elections on Ukraine’s territory. Later, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry’s press secretary Maryana Betsa explained that it was "impossible to organize voting even in Russian diplomatic and consular services’ buildings." The condition set by Ukraine’s authorities for organizing voting in Ukraine is that Russia cancels voting in Crimea and the city of Sevastopol and excludes from the federal voting lists candidates that represent political parties active in Crimea and Sevastopol.
As Russian Central Election Commission member Vassily Likhachov previously told TASS, about 80,000 Russian voters are currently residing in Ukraine.