Watchdog calls off Russian mission

EUROPE’S main elections watchdog yesterday called off its observer mission to Russia’s forthcoming parliamentary polls citing a lack of co-operation, but Moscow shrugged off the charge.

The Russian authorities “remain unwilling to receive... observers in a timely and co-operative manner and co-operate fully with them”, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said.

In a statement the OSCE said it would “be unable to deliver its mandate under these circumstances” in the December 2 polls and had written to Russian authorities to tell them it “regretted this conclusion”.