Russia's election officials say international observers have been given enough time to monitor the March 2 presidential poll. The statement comes after the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights has asked Moscow to reconsider limits on h
Europe's main election watchdog says it will refuse to monitor the ballot unless it's allowed to observe campaigning from next week. Russian authorities promised to listen to OSCE requests if they are motivated and based on the principles of international law. At a media-conference on Wednesday the election officials said campaigning in Russia is in line with international standards. “The campaigning rules are not different from international standards, but it's obvious that every country has its own peculiarities and a unique experience. While modelling its campaigning rules, the Russian Federation took international experience as guidelines and took good elements from it including guaranteed free air time for candidates to be able to campaign,” said Maya Grishina, Central Election Commission official.