MOSCOW, January 27 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Foreign Ministry said Friday it was "surprised" by a senior Ukrainian diplomat's statement that observers from the former Soviet republics would not be invited to monitor the country's parliamentary elections.
Ukraine's first deputy foreign minister, Anton Buteiko, said earlier that Ukraine would not invite observers from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a loose union of former Soviet republics, to the national parliamentary elections due in March because the CIS allegedly did not have the status of a subject of international law.
"Buteiko's words that Ukraine seeks to show its readiness to hold open and democratic elections does not go well with his statements against inviting CIS observers," said the ministry's official spokesman, Mikhail Kamynin.
On January 24, Buteiko said Ukraine would only invite observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Council of Europe.
Kamynin said the CIS was a legal participant in international processes and held the status of an observer in the United Nations.
He said the CIS had numerous contracts of international law with other international organizations and other countries, and its representatives participated in major international forums together with the UN, the European Union, and the OSCE.
Kamynin also referred to the Ukrainian parliament's decision of December 15 to invite CIS observers to the March elections. He added that parliamentary speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn had also written a letter to Sergei Mironov, a senior official in the CIS, on December 29, inviting CIS observers to the parliamentary polls.
