VIENNA, March 21. /TASS/. Russia does not trust the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), which has completely discredited itself because of its bias, Russian Deputy Permanent Representative to the OSCE Alexander Volgarev said during the meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council.
"We have already announced the reasons why we refused to cooperate with ODIHR, and to Director Matteo Mecacci in person, in particular. […] The executive structure and its leadership has long completely discredited itself and smeared itself with its bias. Russia no longer has any trust for the Office. As for the OSCE obligations, Russia has fulfilled them properly by inviting - in accordance with the sense of Clause 8 of the OSCE Copenhagen Document - international observers from various authoritative organizations, structures and experts from the member states of our Organizatinon," Volgarev said.
Previously, Russian Central Election Commission head Ella Pamfilova said that observers from ODIHR were not invited to the presidential elections because of their lack of transparency and undemocratic approach. On March 21, the Commission approved the election outcome. According to the official data, 87.28% of voters cast their ballots for Vladimir Putin. A record-high voter turnout of 77.44% was registered during these elections.