MOSCOW, December 18. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas' statement that the EU would help Armenia in the same way it helped Moldova a "confession."
"The other day, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas publicly promised that the EU would help Armenia fight harmful foreign interference, as it did in Moldova. I would call this a sincere confession, a confession of guilt," the top diplomat noted at a meeting of the United Russia General Council's commission on international cooperation.
Lavrov recalled that in the case with Moldova, there was "blatant EU interference in the parliamentary elections in Moldova in September." "During their numerous visits to Chisinau on the eve of the vote, European officials openly campaigned for [President] Maia Sandu's Party of Action and Solidarity and said outright that the party's victory would guarantee continued funding for the country. They were not interested in the opinion of voters. They tried to engineer it through outright blackmail. We can see more and more cynicism in the statements and actions of Western politicians lately," the foreign minister pointed out.
He also noted that the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) has long been turned into an instrument of political pressure. "The reports ‘produced’ by this office’s election observation missions are dictated by geopolitical considerations. If a non-pro-Western candidate wins, the assessments are harsh, even to the point of demanding a re-vote. If someone whom the West actively ‘promoted’ wins, it is hailed as a 'triumph of democracy.' These conclusions about the elections are prepared in advance. Everyone knows this. The EU characterizes all this as the 'gold standard of electoral observation,'" Lavrov concluded.