Russian Foreign Ministry: International observers to watch elections in Chechnya

International observers will watch the presidential elections in Chechnya scheduled for Sunday, October 5, Alexander Yakovenko, official spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry reported.

Mr. Yakovenko stressed that Russia "has no international commitments to invite international observers to such high level elections, nevertheless, the Chechen Election Commission invited observers from a number of international organizations." The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the League of Arab States (LAS) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) will send their observers. Observers from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, from PACE and from a number of U.S. organizations found it impossible to come to Chechnya.

According to Mr. Yakovenko, security reasons became the pretext for it.

Alexander Yakovenko underlined that despite this fact "the elections in Chechnya will be held in a democratic atmosphere in accordance not only with the Chechen and federal legislation but with general standards of international law as well." "Those who disregarded the Chechen authorities' hospitality deprived themselves of the right to make a qualitative assessment of this most important event in the life of the Chechen people," Mr. Yakovenko said.