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No discriminatory action taken against OSCE ODIHR, Russian CEC member insists

Pavel Andreyev noted the Russian Central Election Commission has been consistently seeking openness and transparency in its contacts with the OSCE ODIHR, the same as with all international observers

MOSCOW, August 5. /TASS/. Pavel Andreyev from the Russian Central Election Commission (CEC) said on Thursday that the CEC had taken no discriminatory actions against the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) that had earlier refused to send its observers to the State Duma election in September.

"In its contacts with the OSCE ODIHR, the Russian Central Election Commission has been consistently seeking openness and transparency, the same as with all international observers basically," Andreyev told Rossiya-24 television. "The Central Election Commission has taken no discriminatory or sudden measures against the observer mission from the OSCE ODIHR. The approach is equal for all. The main thing for us is the safety of our nationals," Andreyev noted.

According to him, "during a meeting with Mr. Mecacci in Moscow and later when the Needs Assessment Mission of the OSCE ODIHR came here, the CEC drew the attention of its colleagues to the very unstable sanitary-epidemiological situation," he went on to say.

"We have repeatedly noted that in planning the mission it would be expedient to take into account the risks connected with this," Andreyev said. After the publication of the Needs Assessment Mission’s report, the CEC once again drew attention to a possible reduction in the number of observers to meet the sanitary security requirements, Andreyev pointed out.

The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and the ODIHR said in a statement on Wednesday that it "will not be able to send observers for the upcoming elections to the Duma due to limitations imposed by Russian Federation authorities on the election observation." "The ability to independently determine the number of observers necessary for us to observe effectively and credibly is essential to all international observation," the statement quoted ODIHR Director Matteo Mecacci as saying.

Chairperson of the Central Election Commission Ella Pamfilova has expressed her deep regret over the decision made by the European security agency’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights not to send a mission of observers to the State Duma election and emphasized Russia’s interest in the international observation.

The 8th State Duma elections are scheduled for September 19. The voting will stretch over three days: September 17, 18, and 19. Simultaneously, there will be direct elections for the heads of nine Russian regions (in three others, top executive officials will be elected by local legislatures) and 39 regional parliaments.

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