Support The Moscow Times!

Kremlin Threatens Ban on U.S. Election Monitors After Diplomatic 'Intimidation'

AP/Pavel Golovkin

The Kremlin has threatened to ban U.S. observers from Russian elections over claims that its diplomats were “intimidated” in the run-up to the U.S. presidential vote.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that the U.S. embassy in Moscow had been given an official warning in the form of a diplomatic note, the RIA Novosti news site reported. As a result, Washington should not expect U.S. observers to receive accreditation for future elections unless part of an international mission, Ryabkov said.

The minister also claimed that the U.S. authorities had “intimidated Russian diplomats,” using “every trick in the book to stop Russian representatives from assessing the elections.”

Officials have already slammed the decision of some U.S. states to bar Russian election monitors from polling stations, calling this “unacceptable.”

Authorities in Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana turned down the Kremlin’s requests because international observers are banned from polling stations under the laws of all three states. However, Louisiana Secretary of State Tom Schedler stated that he would have welcomed the observers were it not for recent flooding that that had created additional challenges in organizing the voting.

The Kremlin had previously turned down the opportunity to join an election monitoring mission with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), instead applying to individual states.

U.S. State Department Spokesperson John Kirby claimed that the move was little more than a Kremlin publicity stunt.

“We told the Russian government that they were welcome to observe our elections,” he said. “The fact that they have chosen to not join the OSCE observation mission makes clear that this issue is nothing more than a PR stunt.”

More than 400 OSCE observers will be working across 33 U.S. states on Tuesday, when Americans take to the polls to elect a new president.

Sign up for our free weekly newsletter

Our weekly newsletter contains a hand-picked selection of news, features, analysiss and more from The Moscow Times. You will receive it in your mailbox every Friday. Never miss the latest news from Russia. Preview
Subscribers agree to the Privacy Policy

A Message from The Moscow Times:

Dear readers,

We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent."

These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.

We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.

Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.

By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.

Once
Monthly
Annual
Continue
paiment methods
Not ready to support today?
Remind me later.

Read more