Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), Ingibjörg Solrun Gísladóttir, called on Kyiv to comply with its obligations to the organization regarding election observation.
This is stated in her letter to the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Pavel Klimkin, which is available to Kommersant.
The letter was a response to the statement of the Ukrainian minister about that the Ukrainian authorities will not accredit those international observers who have Russian passports to work in the presidential elections.
“I would like to remind you that OSCE participating States have committed to inviting observers from any other OSCE participating States who may wish to observe the elections to the extent permitted by law,” the OSCE representative said in the letter.
She also listed the documents that contain these commitments: the OSCE Copenhagen Document of 1990, the OSCE Charter for European Security of 1999, OSCE Ministerial Council Decision No. 19/06 adopted in 2006.
“I believe that these important principles will be fully reflected in any future decisions on the accreditation of observers from OSCE participating States,” the OSCE/ODIHR Director emphasized.
Let us note that the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry announced his intention to ban observers with Russian passports in his blog.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine will not accept applications for registration of Russian observers. I consider this necessary when it comes to observers from the aggressor country,” Klimkin wrote in a letter addressed to Gísladóttir.