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Top diplomat confirms Russia ready to receive OSCE monitors during presidential election

Russia expects that the OSCE’s monitoring mission and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly will closely cooperate with other observers invited for the elections

© Stanislav Krasilnikov/TASS

MOSCOW, February 1. /TASS/. Russia confirms its readiness to receive observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe at the March presidential election and all issues have been agreed, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday after talks with his Italian counterpart and OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Angelino Alfano.

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Everything you need to know about presidential election in Russia

"We confirmed readiness to receive OSCE observers at the Russian presidential election in March 2018. The OSCE has established working contacts with the Central Election Commission and all issues concerning the monitoring have been agreed," Lavrov said.

Russia expects that the OSCE’s monitoring mission and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly will closely cooperate with other observers invited for the election, including representatives of the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the foreign minister said.

The OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) will start monitoring the Russian presidential election on February 5. The organization will send to Russia 80 long-term and 420 short-term observers.

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Sergey Lavrov Russian presidential election 2018

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