No Russians to observe Ukraine elections, Kremlin confirms

No Russian citizens will participate in the OSCE ODIHR
mission observing the presidential elections in Ukraine, the Russian government
confirmed on Feb. 8 after parliament approved legislation the prior day
forbidding their accreditation and the OSCE said it would comply. “The Russian
side, in consideration of security concerns for our representatives in the
ODIHR observing mission, decided to abstain from dispatching them to Ukraine”
said a statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry, after the OSCE ODIHR was
reported to have already decided to exclude them.

The same day as the Foreign Ministry statement,
Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the parliament’s decision to
prohibit Russian observers would reduce the legitimacy of the elections. At the
same time, “that doesn’t mean that Russia won’t recognize these elections,” he
said, as reported by the rbc.ru news site.

After parliament approved legislation forbidding
Russian observers, the OSCE published a letter from ODIHR Director Ingibjorg
Gisladottir to Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry expressing “deep disappointment” for
the decision. She stressed that ODIHR observers are trained to uphold its
strict code of conduct, which includes being strictly objective and not
interfering in elections.

“The decision to deny the possibility of accreditation
of citizens of one participating state is without precedent and contravenes
commitments made by all participating states to invite observers from any other
OSCE participating states that may wish to observe election proceedings to the
extent permitted by law,” she said in the Feb. 7 release. The next day however,
spokesman Thomas Rymer said ODIHR will not send two Russian observers for what
had been planned as its 92-member Ukrainian elections long-term observing
mission, in compliance with the newly approved legislation.

Zenon Zawada: The most significant development from this episode is Peskov’s
statement keeping open the possibility for the Kremlin to recognize the
elections. This means the Kremlin sees a legitimate possibility for Yulia
Tymoshenko or Volodymyr Zelenskiy to win, as well as the chance to strike a
better deal on Donbas with either of these two candidates. Meanwhile, the
absence of Russian observers in these elections won’t affect their validity or
recognition in the developed world.