MOSCOW, November 2. /TASS/. The Moldovan authorities' decision to withdraw Russian observers’ accreditation for the November 5 local elections violates Chisinau's international commitments, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing.
"On October 30, the OSCE ODIHR (the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights - TASS) received a notification from the OSCE that the Moldovan authorities had withdrawn accreditation for six Russian short-term observers who are members of the organization's monitoring mission to the local elections set to be held on November 5," the diplomat said. "We regard the Moldovan authorities' decision as a violation of international obligations and another manifestation of its anti-Russian policy. We expect that the OSCE will react to all these actions. Appropriate assessments must be made," she added.
According to Zakharova, Russia always emphasizes that inviting observers is the internal affair of a country. However, Moldova is bound by a number of international obligations that relate to election observation.
The diplomat reminded that under the 2002 Convention on the Standards of Democratic Elections, Electoral Rights and Freedoms of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Moldova committed itself to "strive to facilitate the access of international observers to the electoral processes held at a level lower than national, up to municipal and local levels."
"A similar commitment, contained in the 1990 OSCE Copenhagen Document, has been repeatedly confirmed by the organization's decisions. If [Moldovan President Maia] Sandu has decided to withdraw from these commitments, she should make it clear," the spokeswoman pointed out.