US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Russia disrupted the annual meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which was scheduled in Warsaw on September 27.
“Unfortunately, the OSCE Human Dimension Meeting in 2021 did not take place due to the decision of the Russian government to block this meeting. We deeply regret this attempt by the Russian authorities to block control of the deteriorating human rights situation”, Blinken said in a statement posted on the State Department’s website.
Recall that on August 3, the OSCE decided not to attend the elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation due to Moscow’s demands to reduce the number of observers. Russia said that due to the epidemiological situation from the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and from the Parliamentary Assembly (PA), only 50 and 10 people, respectively, can be admitted to the elections.
Deputy Chairman of the Security Council, Chairman of the United Russia party Dmitry Medvedev noted that the OSCE’s refusal to send observers to Russia for the State Duma elections is an attempt to discredit the voting in advance.