Ukrainian presidential elections will be held without Russian observers

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry notified the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) about the refusal of accreditation to Russian citizens who were supposed to arrive in the country to monitor the presidential elections in Ukraine.

“Under these conditions, the Russian side, based on security considerations of our representatives in the ODIHR observation mission, decided to refrain from sending them to Ukraine,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said, noting that the absence of Russian observers “together with the deprivation of millions of Ukrainian citizens of the opportunity to vote on territory of Russia <…> casts doubt on the transparency and objectivity of the results of the forthcoming declaration of will.”

The presidential elections in Ukraine will be held on March 31. The CEC registered 44 candidates. Among them are the current President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko; People's Deputy, candidate from the "Opposition Platform - For Life" Yuriy Boyko; people's deputy, leader of the Batkivshchyna party Yulia Tymoshenko; candidate from the Servant of the People party, artistic director of Kvartal 95 Vladimir Zelensky.