Armenia denies accreditation to Russian MPs for parliamentary election observation

ArmInfo.Armenia has denied accreditation to several Russian lawmakers who were slated to act as observers for the country's upcoming parliamentary elections on June 7. This was confirmed on May 28 by Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova during her weekly briefing in response to a question on the matter.

She emphasized that the lists of Russian observers were submitted in accordance with established procedures for accreditation procedures.

"Everything was done exactly as requested by the Armenian side. Unfortunately, our Armenian partners did informally notify us that it would be undesirable to include certain Russian citizens in the mission. This concerns three State Duma deputies and a representative from the election commission of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic," the diplomat said.

She added that the Russian side requested an explanation for the denial, but Armenia provided no reasons. "We requested the reasons and some form of feedback regarding this matter. However, we have received no official response from Yerevan, including on the motives behind this decision. We have no idea what these specific individuals could have possibly done to offend Armenia," the diplomat remarked.

Zakharova stressed that these individuals had never been on Armenia's so-called "stop-lists" and had never encountered any issues visiting the republic. She speculated that the ban might be linked to the fact that these individuals are included on EU sanction lists.

"This appears to be a posture of official Yerevan bowing to its senior EU counterparts. I was unaware of this, but if so, we must return to the issue of European standards and European narratives currently being implemented in Armenia. Is this what they look like—when observers from Russia are barred from monitoring elections? Perhaps this is what defines Yerevan's accelerated rapprochement with the EU," she said.

The Russian diplomat once again expressed bewilderment over why unlawful sanctions should serve as an obstacle to election observation activities, suggesting that the reason for the refusal be made public to provide a complete picture. "If this is indeed the case, it turns out that the Armenian side, through its actions toward Russia, is once again demonstrating that it is simply choosing the anti-Russian course of the EU. What then of the assurances of friendship and promises that cooperation will continue? Such a step directly contradicts statements by Armenia's top leadership claiming that interaction with the EU and its individual members in no way contradicts or harms friendly relations with Russia. The decision to deny accreditation to Russian citizens causes us deep regret and misunderstanding. But above all, beyond regret and misunderstanding, we are not prepared to accept this logic and will be forced to take this into account in our future work with Yerevan," Zakharova concluded.

Earlier, the Central Election Commission of Armenia reported that delegations from the CIS, OSCE/ODIHR, and PACE would observe the parliamentary elections in Armenia.